Institut de Droit international

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Logo of the Institut de Droit international

The Institut de Droit international (IDI), in English Institute for International Law , is an association of lawyers who scientifically follow the development of international law, i.e. international law and private international law , and influence them through suggestions. The organization was founded on September 8, 1873 in Ghent , Belgium and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1904 for its commitment .

The institute consists of a statutory number of a maximum of 132 legal experts. New associated members, full members and honorary members are accepted through co-optation , i.e. elected by the existing members. The selection is based on the scientific achievements of the respective persons, so that the admission represents recognition. In this regard, the institute also has the character of a learned society .

History and work

The members of the institute during a meeting in Krakow in August 2005.

The Institut de Droit international was founded in the town hall of the Belgian city of Ghent by eleven renowned experts in international law, namely Carlos Calvo from Argentina , Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns and Émile Louis Victor de Laveleye from Belgium , Pasquale Stanislao Mancini and Augusto Pierantoni from Italy , Tobias Asser from the Netherlands , Gustave Moynier and Johann Caspar Bluntschli from Switzerland , David Dudley Field from the United States , James Lorimer from the United Kingdom and Vladimir Pawlowitsch Besobrasow from Russia . In addition, the German-Russian lawyer August von Bulmerincq , who was also invited and who was unable to attend the founding meeting, has been a member since the foundation.

The initiative to create the IDI came from Gustave Moynier and Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns, who also became the first general secretary; Pasquale Stanislao Mancini was the first president. As co-founder and president of the International Committee of Aid Societies for the Care of Wounded, the later International Committee of the Red Cross , Moynier played a decisive role in the creation and development of modern international law. Other well-known lawyers who influenced the work of the institute were, for example, the Russian diplomat Friedrich Fromhold Martens , who played a key role in shaping international humanitarian law and, like Felix Stoerk, who came from Germany, temporarily served as Vice President, and the Austrian Leopold Freiherr von Neumann . Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns (1892), Gustave Moynier (1894), John Westlake (1911), Albéric Rolin (1923) and Charles De Visscher (1954) were appointed honorary presidents of the institute .

The IDI was frequently involved in the establishment and development of other institutions, including the founding of the International Law Association in 1873, the establishment of the Academy for International Law in The Hague in 1913 and the International Law Commission of the United Nations in 1947. In 1880 the Institute under the title Manuel des lois de la guerre sur terre ("The rules of land war") a set of rules also known as the Oxford Manual , which summarized important regulations on warfare and was intended as the basis for corresponding national legislation in the states of that time. It made a significant contribution to the preparation of the first peace conference in The Hague in 1899, the drafting of the Hague Agreement that came into being in this context and the follow-up conference in 1907, and the establishment of the Permanent Court of Arbitration . Since 1913, the Institute has also been a formal advisor to the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace . By collaborating and advising international legal bodies, the institute exerts significant influence on questions of international law, for example through its resolutions on the protection of human rights of 1929 and 1947, on environmental protection of the seas from 1937 and 1966, and on the peaceful use of space from 1963.

organization

The Institut de Droit international is a private association without an official character. It is made up of a maximum of 132 members, whose selection in accordance with the statutes of the institute is to acknowledge their scientific achievements and to avoid an unbalanced representation of individual states. Newly admitted members are initially considered to be associated members and, as a rule, receive full membership after actively participating in three working meetings. If a member does not attend three consecutive meetings, he is deemed to have resigned, unless the non-attendance is due to other important reasons. With previous active participation in at least five meetings, resigning members are listed as emeritus members. In addition, outstanding members of the institute can be awarded honorary membership.

The institute's working sessions usually last a week and take place every one to two years. They are headed by a President who was elected at the end of the previous session. The office and the general secretariat act as administrative organs between the meetings. Members of the office are the president, the three vice-presidents, the general secretary, the treasurer and the chairman of the program committee. The general secretary and the treasurer are elected for three sessions, the president and vice-presidents for one session. The work is mainly financed through membership fees, donations and foundation assets , which are mainly based on Nobel Prize money as well as gifts and inheritances . The foundation established in 1947 to manage assets is organized under Swiss law and is based in Lausanne . The seat of the institute depends on the origin of the Secretary General and has so far been mainly in Belgium and Switzerland, with shorter periods in the Netherlands (1913–1919) and France (1963–1969).

For the content-related work, individual members are selected as reporters and thematic commissions are formed. In addition to the program commission, there are currently 18 other commissions on various aspects of international law. The task of the rapporteurs and commissions is to prepare reports and proposals that serve as a working basis for the meetings or as drafts for resolutions, declarations and reports of the Institute. The most important regular publication of the institute is the yearbook published internationally under the title Annuaire de l'Institute de droit . The working language for the meetings and publications is mainly French .

literature

  • Edvard Hambro: The Centenary of the Institut De Droit International. In: Nordic Journal of International Law 43/1973, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, pp. 9-17, ISSN  0029-151X .
  • Hans Wehberg: Institut de droit international: Tableau général des résolutions, 1873–1956. Éditions juridiques et sociologiques SA, Basel 1957.
  • Peter Macalister-Smith: Bio-Bibliographical Key to the Membership of the Institut de Droit International, 1873-2001. In: Journal of the History of International Law 5 (1) / 2003, Brill Academic Publishers, pp. 77-159, ISSN  1388-199X .
  • Martti Koskenniemi : La Politique du Droit International. Editions A. Pedone, Paris 2007, ISBN 978-2-23-300504-5 .
  • Paul De Visscher : La contribution de l'Institut de droit international à la protection des droits de l'homme. In: Mélanges Michel Virally. Le droit international au service de la paix, de la justice et du développement. Editions A. Pedone, Paris 1991, ISBN 2-233-00213-X , pp. 215-224 ( PDF ).

Web links

Commons : Institut de Droit International  - collection of images, videos and audio files