The Dispute over the Status and Use of the Waters of the Silala case and the customary rules on the definition of international watercourse

Abstract

The International Court of Justice is to determine, in the Dispute over the Status and Use of the Waters of the Silala case, the international status of the waters in question by customary rules of international law. In its identification of the existence and contents of the applicable rules on the definition of international watercourse, the Court may refer to the United Nations Watercourses Convention, other international instruments, State practice and international jurisprudence. The decisive fact for finding an international watercourse is that the components of the watercourse are situated in two or more States. Difficulties may lie in the determination of the components of the watercourse and their physical relationships. The Court may have to decide whether the status of waters can be altered by artificial means by certain general principles of the law of international watercourses.