UDC 341.1/.8
Biblid: 1451-3188, 19 (2020)
Vol. 19, No 73-74, pp. 5-16
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18485/iipe_ez.2020.19.73_74.1
Оriginal article
Received: 31 Aug 2020
Accepted: 27 Sep 2020
SUSTAINABILITY OF THE CONCEPT OF REGIONAL COGENT NORMS – GENERAL SYSTEM AGAINST THE EUROPEAN SYSTEM
MILISAVLJEVIĆ Bojan (Redovni profesor Pravnog fakulteta Univerziteta u Beogradu), bojan@ius.bg.ac.rs
This paper presents an analysis of a new and sensitive issue of interest to the entire international community - the issue of regional ius cogens norms. It starts from the current work of the United Nations Commission on International Law and follows discussions and comments from both states and leading authors on this issue. The author takes a clear position that regional ius cogens norms should be accepted, considering that they already exist as such in Europe within the system of the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights, but also in the system of the European Union. It was pointed out that regional cogent norms are gradually being accepted in other areas, for example, on American soil, so that is only one of the reasons for their recognition. Unfortunately, members of the International Law Commission have still taken a stand on the recognition of these norms, although some significant authors support their acceptance. The paper clearly shows that although the issue of regional ius cogens norms is often associated with the fragmentation of international law, this is a positive aspect. Namely, the acceptance of regional ius cogens norms would represent the improvement of the entire international law, but not at the cost of the existence of general ius cogens norms. The author insists that the area of Europe was the ground where international law was born and where the degree of integration of states is at the highest level, so the entire international law, as well as human rights in general, would be improved through regional coherent norms.
Keywords: regional ius cogens norms, Council of Europe, European Union, Commission on International Law