Being less concerned about which airline you use because of
international safety standards.
James G. Apple, Editor-in-Chief, International
Judicial Monitor
(In celebration
of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the American Society of
International Law in 2006, the Society published a pamphlet titled International
Law: One Hundred Ways It Shapes Our Lives. The introduction gives an
explanation for its conception: an affirmation that: “international law not
only exists, but also penetrates much more deeply and broadly into everyday
life than the people it affects may generally appreciate.” This column seeks to
elucidate and elaborate on many of the 100 ways briefly presented in the ASIL
pamphlet.)
With dramatic increases in air travel that have occurred
around the world in the last several decades, in part due to airline
deregulation that occurred in the United States in 1978, there has been a
substantial increase in air travel both globally and in different regions of
the world. Statistics reveal that there are now more thatn 100,000 daily
flights in every region of the world. There has also been a concomitant growth
in the number of airline companies operating both worldwide and in the
different regions of the world. Such growth places more burdens on individual
airlines for the attention required to safety standards for the prevention of airline
accidents.
One of the reasons why there has been a dramatic decline in
the number of airline accidents in recent years, despite the increase in
passenger traffic and number of airline companies operating in commercial
aviation, is the work of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO),
a special agency of the United Nations (UN).
The ICAO was founded in 1944 when representatives of 54
nations convened in Chicago from November 1 to December 7 “manage the
administration and governance of the Convention on International Civil Aviation
(known as the Chicago Convention). This includes surveying international
aviation and making recommendations for improvements. It became a part of the
UN in 1947 after that organization was created the following year at the end
of World War II.
The main objective of the ICAO is to “reach consensus on
international civil aviation Standards and Recommended Practices.” Importantly
it also “audits civil aviation oversight capabilities in the areas of safety
and security.” To accomplish this it works with the 191 Member States which
make up the membership of the Assembly, one of its two policy bodies. The other
policy body is the Council.
The Assembly decides on the members who will serve on the
Council, approves the budget of the ICAO. It also “reviews in detail the work
of the Organization in the technical, administrative, economic and legal and
technical cooperation fields. It can approve amendments to the Convention,
which are subject to ratification by the Member States.
The Council is a permanent body composed of 36 Member States
elected by the Assembly for three year terms. It submit annual reports to the
Assembly, carries out instructions of the Assembly, administers the finances of
the ICAO and appoints members to and