Member States of the United Nations
The General Assembly consists of all member states of the United Nations. In accordance with Article 10 of the UN Charta, the Assembly has the power to discuss any matters it sees fit, and to make recommendations to its members, unless the Security Council has seized itself to the situation, Article 12 of UN Charta. Therefore, if there is an argument for an international parliament, the only contender must be the United Nations General Assembly. Though, the influence of the General Assembly cannot be compared to those of a national parliament. The Assembly has and is producing a great number of important resolutions, however, their legal nature is questionable. It is the aim of this essay to examine to what extent the resolutions of the General Assembly influence the development of international law. Influence of resolutions of the General Assembly on the development of international law Article 38 (1) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice comprises a list of legal principles which should be applied by the Court in determining the rules of international law. This Article provides the recognised sources of international law to be treaty, custom, general principles and the opinions of academ
First of all, we have to consider the requirements for state practice. In accordance with the Asylum Case the International Court of Justice held that for a rule of customary international law to exist the state must act out of an obligation and not merely political pressure. There is no minimum time limit on the duration of state practice before the rule may be considered as part of customary law. The test is whether the rule is generally accepted in the practice of state. Resolutions most likely to considered part of customary international law are those which codify existing costum, or purpose instant international custom with universal support.From all this follows that General Assembly resolutions might reflect or be evidence of the development of international law, however the evidential value of General Assembly resolutions must depend on their circumstances. On the other hand one may suggest to designate the resolutions of the General Assembly as quasi-legislative value. From this it follows that the resolutions can be compared to binding rules, thus are of legal importance.
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Approximate Word count = 1898
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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