The International Law Commission (ILC) is a subsidiary organ of the UN General Assembly. It was established in 1947 to undertake the mandate of the Assembly, under article 13 (1) (a) of the Charter, to “initiate studies and make recommendations for the purpose of… encouraging the progressive development of international law and its codification.” The work of the ILC has resulted in the adoption of treaties such as the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Even when not converted into treaties, the work of the ILC has a significant impact on international law, as is the case with the ILC Articles on State Responsibility. 

Prof. Dire Tladi was first elected to the ILC in November 2011, and re-elected in 2016. In 2015 he was appointed to serve as its Special Rapporteur for the topic of jus cogens. Since then he has lead the Commission’s efforts to give content to jus cogens by identifying how rules and norms are elevated to that status and determining the impact of these norms.

In 2019, the Commission adopted a set of 23 draft conclusions on peremptory norms of general international law (jus cogens) on first reading. The draft conclusions cover the methodology for the identification of peremptory norms and their consequences.
More information about the project, and about the ILC’s work in general, can be found here