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

In 2015, the CAHDI held two meetings in order to examine topical questions of public international law, to exchange and, if appropriate, to coordinate the views of the States, respectively its 49^th meeting (Strasbourg, 19-20 March 2015) and its 50^th meeting (Strasbourg, 24-25 September 2015).

Conference on “The CAHDI contribution to the development of public international law: achievements and future challenges”

On the occasion of the 50^th meeting of the CAHDI, a Conference on “The CAHDI contribution to the development of public international law: achievements and future challenges” was organised on 23 September 2015. The aim of this Conference was to highlight the main contributions of this Committee to the development of public international law since its establishment in 1991 as well as its possible future contributions in light of the changes and challenges faced by the international community over the past 24 years. The Conference brought together the former and present Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the CAHDI who presented the main achievements of the CAHDI during their respective chairmanships and held an exchange of views on the role and the future work of the CAHDI. This event provided an opportunity to show that the CAHDI often acts as a laboratory and a catalyst for new ideas and that it holds a pioneering role in relation to public international law inside and outside the boundaries of the Council of Europe.

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 49^th meeting its opinion on Recommendation 2060 (2015) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe – “The implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Council of Europe and the European Union”.

At its 50^th meeting, the CAHDI also adopted at the request of the Committee of Ministers its opinion on Recommendation 2069 (2015) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe – “Drones and targeted killings: the need to uphold human rights and international law”.

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

Review of Council of Europe conventions

In 2015, the CAHDI fulfilled its mandate to follow-up 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”. It completed the cycle by examining:

• at its 49^th and 50^th meetings: the European Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitation to Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes (ETS No. 82);
• at its 50^th meeting: the European Convention on State Immunity (ETS No. 74) and its Additional Protocol (ETS No. 74A).

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 outstanding reservations and declarations to international treaties which are identified beforehand by the Public International Law Division and Treaty Office.

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.

This exercise has been welcomed on several occasions by Mr Alain Pellet, Special Rapporteur of the International Law Commission (ILC) on the topic of reservations to treaties, who has notably observed that the efforts of the CAHDI have borne fruit as member States coordinate more frequently their reactions to the reservations.

Cooperation with other international entities

In 2015, the CAHDI pursued its exchanges of views with other international entities.

At its 49^th meeting, the members of the CAHDI held an exchange of views with Ms Kimberly Prost, Ombudsperson of the United Nations Security Council’s Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee. The exchanges focused notably on the successes, the setbacks and the challenges faced by the Ombudsperson four year after her appointment.

Cooperation with the International Law Commission (ILC) and the Sixth Committee of the United Nations General Assembly

Pursuant to its terms of reference, the CAHDI is instructed to “deepen exchanges of views on the work of the International Law Commission and of the Sixth Committee”.

In this regard, the year 2015 allowed strengthening the links that the CAHDI had established with the ILC and that were already close. Indeed, in addition to the annual exchange of views between the ILC, the Chair of the CAHDI and the Secretary to the CAHDI (Geneva, 10 July 2015), the CAHDI welcomed at its 50^th meeting Mr Narinder Singh, Chairperson of the ILC, who reviewed the different topics of work of the ILC as well as their respective progress.

Furthermore, the collaboration with the United Nations was strengthened by the presence of the CAHDI Secretariat during the debates of the Sixth Committee of the General Assembly of the United Nations (Legal).

Topical questions of international law

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

At its 49^th meeting, the Committee discussed the possibility to revise and update the “Amended Model Plan for the Classification of Documents concerning State Practice in the Field of Public International Law” adopted by the Committee of Ministers in Recommendation No. R (97) 11 of 12 June 1997. This debate continued at the 50^th meeting of the CAHDI and will be pursued in 2016.

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 1 July 2015. On this occasion, the Chair underlined the important role of the CAHDI within the Council of Europe as well as its contribution to the development of public international law beyond the boundaries of the Council of Europe. He notably presented the adopted opinions, the examination of the conventions in the framework of the review of Council of Europe conventions, the debated topical issues of public international law, the cooperation with other international entities as well as the ongoing work on reservations and declarations to international treaties.