The International Law Commission's flawed Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers: the way forward

In 2008 the United Nations International Law Commission finalized Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers; they were annexed to a United Nations General Assembly resolution later that year. In Autumn 2011, the General Assembly will decide on the final form of these articles. Unfortunately, the articles overlap with the 1997 United Nations Watercourses Convention and contain an even more serious flaw: they introduce the novel and potentially dangerous concept that a state has sovereignty over the portion of a transboundary aquifer located within its territory. After providing background on the Draft Articles, this paper proposes possible remedies for these problems.