El jus cogens, ¿salió del garaje?

Abstract

During the preparation of the VCLT, the ILC considered that «the right course [was] to provide in general terms that a treaty is void if it conflicts with a rule of jus cogens and to leave the full content of this rule to be worked out in State practice and in the jurisprudence of international tribunals». Now, more than forty years since the adoption of the Convention, practical experience has provided us with sufficient perspective to be able to apply the concept of jus cogens reliably and effectively. Indeed, the concept has become definitively consolidated. Besides, even though the international community has not yet
recognized some of its rules, international institutions are increasingly doing so. Likewise, the legal effects of jus cogens are becoming established outside the strict framework of the law of treaties, impregnating the whole area of the sources of law and, gradually, the areas of both international subjectivity and international responsibility as well.