The United Nations held a week-long Congress on Public International Law at its headquarters in New York in 1995 - the year of the celebration of the Organization's fiftieth anniversary - under the general theme `Towards the Twenty-first Century: International Law as a Language for International Relations'. The purpose of the Congress was thus to assist the international community, and in particular the legal profession, to meet the challenges and expectations of the present-day world. Views were expressed, and exchanged, on the codification, progressive development and implementation of public international law, both in theory and in practice, as well as on its teaching and dissemination.
The Proceedings of the United Nations Congress contain the presentations and lectures of well-known jurists and professors - in the language given (English, French or Spanish) - as well as discussions that took place after the lectures. Subject matter includes: (1) The principles of international law: theoretical and practical aspects of their promotion and implementation; (2) Means of peaceful settlement of disputes between States, including resort to and full respect for the International Court of Justice; (3) Conceptual and practical aspects of the codification and progressive development of international law: new developments and priorities; (4) New approaches to research, education and training in the field of international law and its wider appreciation; and (5) Towards the twenty-first century: new challenges and expectations.