The Legal Committee – An Overview
All you need to know about the Sixth Committee of the United Nations General Assembly
Commonly referred to as the Legal Committee, the Sixth Committee (C6) of the General Assembly (GA) primarily focuses on legal questions concerning public international law or other legal matters targeting the United Nations and its internal affairs. Consequently, all 193 member states of the UN are entitled to representation in the Committee. The C6 is responsible mainly for the proposals to amend the Constitution and the rules of Procedure of the General Conference, negotiating the implementation of new international treaties, handling annual reports from its subsidiary bodies, and tackling legal questions submitted by the GA or any of its organs.
Formation and purpose
The Legal Committee’s main task is to examine legal issues in the Programme of the GA. Additionally, it reviews requests for observer status and deals with crucial issues such as the promotion of justice, drug control, crime prevention, and combating international terrorism – not to be confused by this, but these topics are tackled as well by other UN organs which may or may not participate in the GA.
Furthermore, the C6 manages the annual reports from its corresponding organs. Here is a list of all the subsidiary bodies reporting to the Legal Committee:
Committee on Relations with the Host Country;
International Law Commission;
Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization;
United Nations Commission on International Trade Law;
United Nations Programme of Assistance in the Teaching, Study, Dissemination, and Wider Appreciation of International Law;
Ad hoc Committees established by the GA in the context of the work of the C6 (e.g. Committee on measures to eliminate international terrorism).
Unsurprisingly, the Legal Committee only accepts delegates with plenty of experience in the legal field such as diplomats and legal advisors.
Past international involvement and action
The work of the Sixth Committee is vast and substantial due to its unique nature. Mainly, it deals with annual reports from the subsidiary bodies of the GA that require legal attention. One of the most important is the International Law Commission, created in 1947 with the purpose of developing and reviewing international law. Among other things, each year, the C6 searches for counter-terrorism measures and creates a designated resolution on this topic.
Fun fact about the Committee – in 2005, the C6 proposed the United Nations Declaration on Human Cloning which was later adopted within the GA by the member states with 84 in favor, 34 against, 37 abstaining, and 36 absent.
The declaration was against human cloning; it stressed the importance of the responsible and ethical use of genetic engineering techniques and the protection of human life in scientific research. Curiously enough, some delegations were concerned about banning therapeutic cloning which is used in experiments oriented towards curing diseases by studying cloned embryonic stem cells with the same DNA as the donor cell.
Some other past actions of the Legal Committee include the “International Convention against the taking of hostages”, adopted in 1979, and the “International Convention for the suppression of the financing of terrorism” from 1999.
International Law Week
During “International Law Week”, Legal Advisors from different countries and Special Rapporteurs of the Commission meet at the end of October, in New York City, to discuss the report from the International Law Commission. Reports of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC) are also presented to the Plenary of the GA. The President of the ICJ is offered an invitation to the discussions as well.
The 75th meeting
The C6 convenes during the regular session of the GA and finishes its work in mid-November. Much like the other main Committees of the United Nations, it can reconvene for elections or specific issues at the request of the GA.
Last year’s items on the agenda included “Crimes Against Humanity”, “Responsibility of international organizations”, and even “Expulsion of Aliens”! As a matter of fact, several delegations highlighted the connection between the topic and human rights law in regards to State sovereignty.
If you would like to see how official Legal representatives construct their speeches, you can access here UK’s statement on the aforementioned subject: https://www.un.org/en/ga/sixth/75/pdfs/statements/expulsion_of_aliens/16mtg_uk.pdf
Legal MUN topics
Sought out by many delegates for its versatility, the Sixth Committee stands out as an interesting opportunity to get acquainted with legal matters and what they might entail. We recommend this Committee if you are intrigued by topics related to the question of justice, counter-terrorism measures, or the UN legislative framework. Here are several international and national conferences that held a Legal Committee in the past:
BISMUN 2020:
The Issues of State Responsibility for Environmental Damage;
The Changing Dimensions of International Terrorism: Implementing the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy;
Harvard WorldMUN 2021: Defining Terms and Developing International Measures Regarding the Captivity of Political Prisoners;
VianuMUN 2020:
The Question of Veto: Avoiding the Abuse of Power;
The Principle of Self-Determination of States;
GalMUN 2020: Exploring the Rights and Limitations of Artificial Intelligence;
IasiMUN 2021: Establishing reforms within the United Nations.
Concluding remarks
Unquestionably, the work conducted by the Legal Committee expands over many issues and spreads beyond the sphere of strictly legislative questions in an interesting and highly challenging fashion.
Despite its complexity defined by the substantial coverage, many of the topics provided by MUN conferences for this committee are accessible even to first-timers. If you are considering pursuing a career in the legal field in the future, we strongly encourage you to give the C6 a chance!
Bibliography
NHGRI. (2019, March 9). Cloning Fact Sheet. Genome.Gov. https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/fact-sheets/Cloning-Fact-Sheet
Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations. (2017). The GA Handbook A practical guide to the United Nations General Assembly. https://www.eda.admin.ch/dam/mission-new-york/en/documents/UN_GA__Final.pdf
Permanent Mission to the United Nations | Sixth Committee (Legal Committee). (n.d.). Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship, Argentina. Retrieved April 28, 2021, from https://enaun.cancilleria.gob.ar/en/content/sixth-committee-legal-committee
Townsend, A. (2020, November). UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, SIXTH COMMITTEE, SEVENTY-FIFTH SESSION, AGENDA ITEM 82, EXPULSION OF ALIENS.
https://www.un.org/en/ga/sixth/75/pdfs/statements/expulsion_of_aliens/16mtg_uk.pdf
U.N. (n.d.). Sixth Committee (Legal) - UN General Assembly. United Nations. Retrieved April 29, 2021, from https://www.un.org/en/ga/sixth/
UNESCO. (n.d.). Legal Committee | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved April 29, 2021, from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/general-conference-37th/legal-committee/
United Nations. (n.d.-a). Expulsion of Aliens - Seventy-fifth session - Sixth Committee (Legal) - UN General Assembly. Retrieved April 28, 2021, from https://www.un.org/en/ga/sixth/75/expulsion_of_aliens.shtml
United Nations. (n.d.-b). Seventy-fifth session - Sixth Committee (Legal) - UN General Assembly. Retrieved April 29, 2021, from https://www.un.org/en/ga/sixth/75/75_session.shtml
United Nations. (1979, December). International Convention against the taking of hostages.https://treaties.un.org/doc/db/terrorism/english-18-5.pdf
United Nations. (1999). International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. https://treaties.un.org/doc/db/terrorism/english-18-11.pdf
United Nations. (2005, March 8). General Assembly approves declaration banning all forms of cloning. UN News. https://news.un.org/en/story/2005/03/131092-general-assembly-approves-declaration-banning-all-forms-cloning
United Nations. (2015). Sixth Committee of the General Assembly meets to debate rule of law [Photography]. United Nations. https://www.un.org/ruleoflaw/blog/2015/11/sixth-committee-of-the-general-assembly-meets-to-debate-rule-of-law/
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