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Decolonisation as the source of the concepts of Jus Cogens and Obligations Erga Omnes

Allain, Jean

Authors

Jean Allain



Contributors

Zeray Yihdego
Editor

Melaku Geboye Desta
Editor

Fikremarkos Merso
Editor

Abstract

The scholarly consensus is that jus cogens emerged from the work of the UN International Law Commission on invalidation of treaties, and the International Court of Justice developed the concept of obligations erga omnes in its wake.

This study challenges that perspective by demonstrating that these concepts were developed to accommodate Newly Independent States during the decolonisation process. It takes issue with the recognised starting point of the development of jus cogens in the literature: the deeply problematic piece written by Verdross; and demonstrates that leading jurists of the 1960s recognised that jus cogens was “a political concession to the New States” rather than a technical imperative of the law of treaties.

The study considered the evolution of the litigation regarding Namibia before the International Court of Justice, demonstrating the communal interest which Ethiopia and Liberia sought to engage, so as to end the racist regime which South Africa instituted within its Mandate for South West Africa. The ultimate outcome, manifest in the dicta of the Barcelona Traction case, was to escape that specific litigation and transform the very fabric of international law, embedding a communal interest beyond the bilateralism of jus publicum Europeaum.

The author invites scholars to look anew to the sources of this communitarian interest and points to the writing of Judge Alejandro Alvarez as one possible staring point.

Citation

Allain, J. (2017). Decolonisation as the source of the concepts of Jus Cogens and Obligations Erga Omnes. In Z. Yihdego, M. Geboye Desta, & F. Merso (Eds.), Ethiopian Yearbook of International Law 2016 (35-59). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55898-1_3

Online Publication Date Jun 10, 2017
Publication Date 2017
Deposit Date May 16, 2019
Journal Ethiopian Yearbook of International Law 2016
Pages 35-59
Series Title Ethiopian Yearbook of International Law
Book Title Ethiopian Yearbook of International Law 2016
ISBN 9783319558974; 9783319558981
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55898-1_3
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/1790955
Publisher URL https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-55898-1_3