The legal significance of U.N. General Assembly resolutions revisited: an empirical study
Publication Date
July 27, 2022
Creator
Abstract
This thesis examines the processes through which the resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly acquire legal significance through state practice. The United Nations Charter describes resolutions as recommendations. Hence, they are not legally binding. Yet states routinely cite resolutions with a view to asserting the existence of rights and duties under international law. By adopting an empirical methodology of research, this thesis examines how states attribute legal significance to resolutions in three different contexts: at the time of adoption at the General Assembly, within domestic law and in international practice. The findings of my study show that, contrary to the common understanding, the General Assembly is not a unitary actor. Its composition into a plenary session and six main committees each governed by their own rules of procedures and informal practices influences the way resolutions are adopted and the extent to which states attribute legal significance to them. It also shows that states attribute different degrees of legal significance to the adopted resolutions depending on context and circumstances. There appears to be no abstract attribute of resolutions qua resolutions that explains why states attach legal significance to them. The thesis concludes that, contrary to the existent theories on the legal significance of resolutions, the concept of legal significance of resolutions is neither a predetermined nor a unitary one. Eventually, the attribution of legal significance to resolutions is a manifestation of state will to abide by their content, not the will of the General Assembly.
Item Type
ethesis
Thesis Type
PhD
Supervisors
Subjects (LC)
Associated Schools / Departments
School of Law
eprints ID
68677
UoN Repository URI
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