Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses

Leiden Journal of International Law

Volumn 10, Issue 3, 1997, Pages 501-508

  Fitzmaurice, Malgosia ^a  

^a QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

International Law Commission; international watercourses; United Nations General Assembly

Indexed keywords

EID: 5944233423     PISSN: 09221565     EISSN: 14789698     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0922156597000368     Document Type: Article

References (13)

1. Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, 36 ILM 713 720 (1997).
2. See Report of the International Law Comnnission on the Work of its Forty-Sixth Session, UN Doc. A/49/1Q (1994).
3. See Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-Ninth Session, Supplement No. 10, UN Doc. A/49/10 (1594).
4. See resolutions adopted on the reports of the UNGA Sixth Committee, UN Doc. A/RES/49/52 (1995); for a comment on the text of the Convention which resulted after the first session of the WG, see T. Nussbaum, Report of the Working Groap to EUhorate a Convention on International WatercoHrses, 6 Review of European Communiiy 6t International Environmental Law 47-54 (1996); and A. Tanzi, Codifying the Minimum Standards of the Law of International Watercourses: Remarks on Part One and a, Half 21(2) Natural Resources Forum 109-117 (1997).
5. See Nussbaum, resolutions adopted on the reports of the UNGA Sixth Committee note 4, at 48-49. As for the first group of states, Nussbaum notes the example of the upper riparian states of the Nile. This position appeared to originate from their concern over an existing agreement between Egypt and the Sudan that apportions almost all of the waters of the Nile to themselves.
6. See Fitzmaurice, resolutions adopted on the reports of the UNGA Sixth Committee note 4 note 6, at 368-369.
7. See Nussbaum, sHpra note 4, at 49-50.
8. For the text of the Convention, see Jl ILM 1312 (I992);see, e.g. Art. 2 which provides that “[t]he Parties shall take all appropriate measures to prevent, control, and reduce any trans-boundary impact”.
9. H. Commentary on the 3997 UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, UN Doc. A/61/869, at 5 (1997); and For the text of the Convention note 1, at 719.
10. Art. 20 (Protection and Preservation of Ecosystems) states as follows: “[w]atercourse States shall, individually and, ‘when appropriate, jointly, protect and preserve the ecosystems of international watercourses”. Although not indicated in the text of the Convention, the Commentary, on the 3997 UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses note 11, at 5, states that: “[a]s reflected in the commentary of the International Law Commission, these articles impose a due diligence standard on watercourse States”.
11. Art. 21(3) reads: “[wjatercourse States shall, at the request of any of them, consult with a vie'W to arriving at mutually agreeable meaSTjres and metViods to prevent, reduce and control pollution of an international watercourse, such as: a. setting joint water quality objec-trues anil rri Tria; K esta Kilning anti practices to address pollution from point and non-point sources; c. establishing the list of substances the introduction of which into the waters of an international watercourse is to be prohibited, limited, investigated or monitored”.
12. See Musfitaum, su-prA note 4, at 50.
13. See Fitzmaurice, supm note 6. at 373-374.