The CAHDI is an intergovernmental committee of the Council of Europe bringing together the Legal Advisers of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the member States as well as of a significant number of observer States and international organisations. It is working to coordinate States’ activities in the field of public international law.

In 2016, the CAHDI held two meetings: its 51^st meeting in March (Strasbourg, 3-4 March 2016) and its 52^nd meeting in September (Brussels, 15-16 September 2016).

Adoption of legal opinions at the request of the Committee of Ministers

At the request of the Committee of Ministers, the CAHDI adopted at its 51^st meeting its opinion on Recommendation 2083 (2016) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe – “Introduction of sanctions against parliamentarians”.

At its 52^nd meeting, the CAHDI also adopted at the request of the Committee of Ministers its opinion on Recommendation 2095 (2016) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe – “Parliamentary immunity: challenges to the scope of the privileges and immunities enjoyed by members of the Parliamentary Assembly”.

The Committee of Ministers took these opinions into account when adopting its reply to the said recommendations.

Review of Council of Europe conventions

In 2016, the CAHDI submitted to the Committee of Ministers its main findings on the five conventions and one protocol for which it had been given responsibility within the framework of the Ministers’ Deputies’ decision on the “Review of Council of Europe Conventions”. These legal instruments related to the peaceful settlement of disputes, State immunity, consular functions and the non-applicability of statutory limitation to crimes against humanity and war crimes.

European Observatory of Reservations to International Treaties

Pursuant to its terms of reference, the CAHDI is instructed to “continue its active role as the European Observatory of Reservations to International Treaties”. For this purpose, it regularly considers reservations and declarations to international treaties subject to objection which are identified beforehand by the Public International Law and Treaty Office Division.

This examination allows members to initiate a reservations dialogue when there are doubts with regard to the admissibility of a reservation or a declaration. They can therefore exchange and discuss the relevance of objecting to the reservation/declaration, ask the reserving State for additional information on the reservation/declaration and the reasons for it or provide explanations when they are the authors of the said reservation/declaration.

Topical questions of international law

Pursuant to its terms of reference, the CAHDI is instructed to “examine topical questions of public international law”.

Furthermore, the fruits of the discussions held within the Committee yielded in the publication of two essay collections: “The Judge and International Custom” and “The CAHDI Contribution to the Development of Public International Law: Achievements and Future Challenges”.

Cooperation with the United Nations and international tribunals

Over the year, the CAHDI continued and strengthened its co-operation and collaboration with the United Nations and in particular with the International Law Commission (ILC) and the Sixth Committee of the United Nations General Assembly.  In this regard, the CAHDI held exchanges of views with Mr Pedro Commisário Afonso, the Chairperson of the ILC, and, Mr Miguel de Serpa Soares, the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel. Furthermore, an exchange of views was organised with Ms Catherine Marchi-Uhel, the Ombudsperson of the UN Security Council to the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee. Moreover, the Secretariat of the CAHDI participated in the debates of the Sixth Committee and held an exchange of views with the ILC together with the Chair of the CAHDI.

Finally, to pursue the CAHDI’s long lasting and fruitful cooperation developed in the last decades with international tribunals, an exchange of views with Ms Silvia Fernández de Gurmedi, the President of the International Criminal Court, took place at the 51st meeting.

Exchange of views between the Chair of the CAHDI and the Ministers’ Deputies

As it is the custom, the Chair of the CAHDI held an exchange of views with the Ministers’ Deputies of the Council of Europe on 15 June 2016. On this occasion, the Chair stressed in particular the contribution of the CAHDI to the activities of the Council of Europe as well as the contribution of the CAHDI beyond the Council of Europe and as a liaison body with other international intergovernmental organisations.

Databases managed by the CAHDI

Pursuant to its terms of reference the CAHDI is expected to “continue to update and improve databases managed by the Committee”.

The three new public databases of the CAHDI became fully operational in 2016 and were presented to the Committee members at its 52^nd meeting. The databases gather the national contributions of member and observer States and organisations on the following topics: “The Immunities of States and international organisations”, “The organisation and functions of the Office of the Legal Adviser of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs” and “The implementation of UN sanctions and respect for Human Rights”.