ASIAN-AFRICAN LEGAL CONSULTATIVE ORGANIZATION (AALCO)
Statutes and Statutory Rules
Statutes
The original Statutes of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (then the Asian Legal Consultative Committee) were drawn up in 1956. Over the years, efforts have been made from time to time, to revise the Statutes to bring them into conformity with the changed structure of the Organization. Accordingly, the text of the 1956 Statutes were revised by a process initiated in 1981, culminating in abrogation of the 1956 Statutes and adoption of Statutes by the Twenty-Sixth Session of the Organization held in Bangkok, Thailand in January 1987. Following a change in nomenclature of the Committee to an Organization in the year 2000, the Statutes adopted in 1987 was revised and adopted by the Forty-Third Session of the Organization held in Bali, Indonesia in 2004.
The Statutes mandates the Organization to:
- consider and deliberate on international law issues referred to it by its Member States;
- exchange views, experiences and information on matters or common concern having legal implications;
- communicate the views of Organization on matters of international law referred to it, to the United Nations, other institutions and international organizations;
- examine subjects that are under consideration of the United Nations International Law Commission; and
- undertake with the consent of or at the request of Member States, such activities as may be deemed appropriate for the fulfilment of the functions and purposes of the Organization.
Statutory Rules
Article 8 of the AALCO Statutes empowers the Organization to frame such rules as may be considered necessary to carry out its functions and purposes. The Statutory Rules inter alia details the functions, organization of Annual Sessions and other meetings, rules of procedures concerning Annual Sessions, inter-sessional meetings, Sub-Committees and Working groups. It also explains the role of Liaison Officers of Member States, the Secretariat, the Secretary-General and other functionaries, budgetary matters etc.
The Statutory Rules of the Organization were drawn up in April 1957. It was decided at the Twenty-Second Session held in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1981 to revise the Statutory Rules of 1957 to conform to the developments in practice and functioning of the Committee. After consideration by the Liaison Officers and a Working Group of the Whole established at the Twenty-Sixth Session held in Bangkok, Thailand in 1987, the revised Statutory Rules were adopted at the Twenty-Eighth Session held in Nairobi, Kenya in 1989. Subsequently the Rules were brought into force w.e.f. 1 May 1989.
At the Fortieth Annual Session, held in New Delhi, India in 2001, the name of the Committee was changed to the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO) and it was decided that wherever the word “Committee” was used in AALCC’s 1987 Statutes and 1989 Statutory Rules, it should be read as “Organization.” With this change in nomenclature, the Organization secured its place among the family of International Organizations.
Following the revision of the Statutes at the Forty-Third Session held in Bali, Indonesia in 2004, the Organization vide resolution no AALCO/RES/43/ORG 7, “mandated the Secretary-General, after due consultation with the Committee of Liaison Officer for the revision of Statutes and Statutory Rules, to prepare a revised draft of the Statutory Rules prior to the Forty-Fourth Session.” Thereafter, the matter was only reconsidered at the Fifty-Fifth Annual Session held in New Delhi, India in 2016, wherein vide resolution AALCO/RES/55/ORG 1 dated 20 May 2016 the Secretariat was requested “to explore ways and means for streamlining the Statutory Rules and Administrative, Financial and Staff Regulations of AALCO.” Further the Sixtieth Annual Session held in New Delhi, India in 2022 vide resolution AALCO/RES/60/ORG 1 dated 28 September 2022 mandated the “Secretariat to constitute an open-ended sub-committee of Liaison Officers to review the Statutory Rules of AALCO.”
Accordingly, the Open-ended Sub-Committee of the Liaison Officers of AALCO Member States to Review the Statutory Rules of AALCO (“the Sub-Committee”) came to be constituted in December 2022. Thereafter deliberations were held over the course of seven meetings, culminating in the Sub-Committee provisionally adopting the Draft Text of the Statutory Rules of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization, 2024. Thereafter, this draft text of the revised Statutory Rules were placed for consideration and adoption at the Sixty-Second Session held in Bangkok, Thailand. The Bangkok Session vide resolution AALCO/RES/62/ORG 4 on 13 September 2024 adopted the Statutory Rules of AALCO, 2024 and it was brought into force from the date of adoption.