International Law-making on the Prevention and Control of Epidemics

Abstract

International law-making takes various forms. The UN General Assembly has a general mandate for new law-making, but it has not engaged in major treaty making for some time. The International Law Commission (ILC), charged with codification and progressive development of international law, has not in recent years dealt with topics that are relevant to the pressing need of the international community as a whole. In such an environment, it is remarkable that the Institut de Droit International (IDI), the 19th century type of an old institute, has embarked on the law-making activity on the critical issue of prevention and control of epidemics with the unusual sense of urgency, adopting in August 2021 a Resolution composed of 17 Draft Articles and Preamble. It is hoped that a comprehensive framework convention on epidemics will be elaborated on the basis of this Resolution in the near future.