Due Process and the Right to Life in the Context of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations: Arguing the LaGrand Case

Conclusion

It is significant to this author's eyes that the LaGrand litigation takes place at the turn of this new century. The state-of-art- approach taken by Germany with respect to the Vienna Convention is a challenge to the traditionalist view that international law is an area purely concerning states. Germany's claims have had the effect of placing full light on the real impact that the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations may have in people's everyday lives. As put by Germany `on the international plane, the Vienna Convention is an important pillar for the protection of each country's nationals and their rights abroad'.¹⁸⁸

In this author's view, the unusual age of the public which crowded the Court room for the hearings in this case is equally significant. It says a lot about the interest that a new generation of international lawyers certainly has in the discussion of the fundamental points raised in LaGrand. Although the Court has held in the Nicaragua case that it `is bound to confine its decision to those points of law which are essential to the settlement of the dispute before it',<sup>189</sup> it has equally recognized in the Lybia/Malta (Application for Permission to Intervene) case<sup>190</sup> that it has the duty `to give the fullest decision it may in the circumstances of each case'.¹⁹¹ Hopefully, the decision to come will be the fullest possible with respect to issues raised in this case.

188 CR 2000/26, at 13, para. 5.

189 Nicaragua case, supra note 31, at 110, para. 210.

190 Libya/Malta (Application for Permission to Intervene) case, ICJ Reports (1984), at 3.

191 Ibid, at 25, para. 40.

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