International Legal Issues Arising Under the United Nations Decade of International Law

Book excerpt: The State of Qatar, the Asian-African Legal Consultative Committee (AALCC), in cooperation with the Secretariat of the United Nations and Frère Cholmeley (Paris) organised the Conference on International Legal Issues Arising under the United Nations Decade of International Law in Doha, Qatar on 22--25 March 1994. Around 60 speakers and 200 participants from more than 40 nations freely expressed their views on the progressive development of international law and its codification with a view to States' actions in the future adhering to the principles of international law as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. The subjects dealt with by the Conference had one thing in common: they were all topical issues or, in French, `des questions d'actualité', and will remain thus throughout the United Nations Decade of International Law. The various themes were Environmental Law, the Law of the Sea, the Settlement of Disputes, Humanitarian Law, and the Rio Conference, Post-Rio and the New International Economic Order. This book which contains the Conference proceedings will be of great interest to lawyers specializing in international law. The book is not only a photograph of some very important issues as they existed and were perceived in 1994, it will also serve as a reference book and a unique tool which will be indispensable to understanding some of the most crucial legal problems with which the world community is faced today.