November 5, 2001

Mr. Chairman, 

Further to the general reference we made in our statement on the ILC report last week, I would like to make a very brief statement on Article 19 of the draft convention on “Prevention of Transboundary Harm from Hazardous Activities”. 

As explained by the Chairman of the ILC, in his introductory statement, Article 19 provides a basic rule for the settlement of disputes that uniquely arise from the interrelation or application of the regime of prevention covered by these articles and is inspired by the provisions of Article 33 of the Convention on the Law of Non Navigational Uses of International Watercourses.  We have also noted the context of the relevant commentary (pp. 435 – 6). 

Mr. Chairman, we welcome the reference in draft Article 19 para.6, that the parties to the dispute should consider “in good faith” the findings and recommendations of the fact-finding commission indicated in the article. While we appreciate the need for balancing conflicting considerations, we would strongly agree with the view expressed by Sweden on behalf of the Nordic countries, supported in various degrees by the delegations of Bahrain, Mexico, Hungary and Guatemala, among others, that the dispute/ settlement provision should be strengthened by giving a bigger role to arbitration and judicial settlement. 

This would be more in accordance with our position of principle in favour of the inclusion of third party dispute settlement provisions in all multilateral law-making conventions, concluded under the auspices of the United Nations.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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