Summary: October 28, 2004: STATEMENT BY MS. CETA NOLAND, LEGAL COUNSEL, MFA, ON BEHALF OF THE EUROPEAN UNION. Item 138: Nationality of natural persons in relation to the succession of States - SIXTH COMMITTEE - 59TH SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY (New York)
Mr. Chairman,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Candidate Countries Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Croatia , the countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential Candidate Countries Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this statement.
Mr. Chairman,
The European Union considers the International Law Commission's articles, which were annexed to resolution 55/153 in which the General Assembly took note of the articles, a significant contribution to the development of uniform solutions to the problems of changes of nationality resulting from the succession of States and a useful guide for practice in dealing with this issue.
We commend the International Law Commission for its work in setting up a universal instrument regulating this difficult matter. Clear and authoritative guidelines were urgently needed after a decade where a number of States had been confronted with problems of State succession.
We also note the importance of the European Convention on Nationality of 1997 that, in the view of the European Union, constitutes a significant standard in questions regarding nationality. Furthermore, we would also like to mention the Council of Europe draft Protocol on the avoidance of statelessness in relation to State succession. This draft Protocol builds upon, inter alia, the ILC articles and contains many identical provisions.
The European Union expresses its appreciation for the comments and observations from Governments on the question of a convention on nationality of natural persons in relation to the succession of States, as contained in document A/59/180. We would be interested in additional comments and observations, taking into account in particular one of the main objectives of the ILC's draft articles, namely avoidance of statelessness in case of State succession. The comments and observations should be
helpful in order to discuss at the sixty-third session of the General Assembly whether the work of the ILC on this topic could contribute to the elaboration of a convention or other appropriate instrument.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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