EXPLANATION OF POSITION BY MR NATHANIEL KHNG, COUNSELLOR (LEGAL), PERMANENT MISSION OF SINGAPORE TO THE UNITED NATIONS, FOLLOWING THE ADOPTION OF DRAFT RESOLUTION A/C.6/78/L.21 ON PEREMPTORY NORMS OF GENERAL INTERNATIONAL LAW (JUS COGENS), SIXTH COMMITTEE, 17 NOVEMBER 2023

Mdm Chairperson,

1 Singapore joined consensus on the resolution that was just adopted, and we thank the coordinator, Mr Matúš Košuth, for his immense efforts. We have already expressed our appreciation to the International Law Commission and Special Rapporteur Professor Dire Tladi for the completion of the work on this important topic and provided our views on the conclusions. At this stage, we wish to underscore that the approach taken on this resolution and the resolution that we will be adopting on the responsibility of international organizations should not be taken as acceptance of any change of the Sixth Committee’s working methods and practices, in particular, the practice of placing a draft text of a resolution under a silence procedure before its adoption to establish that it would enjoy consensus. And we thank the coordinator for confirming that it is the common understanding that the present resolution should not become an established practice for considering future products of the International Law Commission.

2 Before I conclude, my delegation wishes to thank the Director of the Codification Division Mr Huw Llewellyn in his last Sixth Committee meeting for his service to the United Nations and his contributions to international law, and we wish to thank the Secretariat for letting in the light today.

3 Thank you for your attention.

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