The Foundations and Legal Nature of Jus Cogens from the Perspective of the International Law Commission

The International Law Commission (ILC) which itself codified and developed peremptory norms, has adopted a flexible approach in its recent reports to the doctrine developed by legal scholars and judicial bodies over the years. On the one hand, under Article 53 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, the Commission has based jus cogens on the acceptance and recognition of the international community of states as a whole and the will of States. On the other hand, the Commission has recognized peremptory norms the have features such as universality, superiority, and protection of fundamental values of the international community which can impose restrictions on the will of States. This paper will analyze the ILC and its special rapporteur’s report in 2016 addressing this important question: on which theoretical foundations are jus cogens based and what are the core elements of these rules? The difference between this article and other papers published in Persian is analyzing and critiquing the latest ILC report from a new perspective considering theoretical evolutions on the topic since 1969.