The United Nations Treaty Collection on the Internet – Developments and Challenges

See untreaty.un.org.

ST/LEG/SER.E/19.

ST/LEG/7/REV.1.

UN Sales No. E.02.V2.

A/RES/51/158, 16 December 1996.

See A/56/484; A/56/586; A/RES/54/102; A/RES/54/28; A/RES/53/100; A/RES/52/153.

See for example, para. 7 of A/RES/54/102.

See para. 9, The Millennium Declaration, A/RES/55/2.

See para. 72, A/56/484.

“1. Every treaty and every international agreement entered into by any Member of the United Nations after the present Charter comes into force shall as soon as possible be registered with the Secretariat and published by it.

No party to any such treaty or international agreement which has not been registered in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article may invoke that treaty or international agreement before any organ of the United Nations,” Article 102, Charter of the United Nations.

“Article 102 contains an absolute obligation on UN members and does not have a discretionary character. It does not matter whether a member is convinced that the agreement will never be invoked before an organ of the UN. Article 102 must not be misunderstood as a mere provision setting out the conditions under which an international agreement may be invoked before an organ of the UN,” The Charter of the United Nations (ed. SimmaB.) para. 14, p. 1108 (1995).

The origins of Article 102 of the United Nations Charter may be traced to Article 18 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. The draftsmen sought to eliminate secret diplomacy and thereby a major cause of war by incorporating a legal requirement to ensure transparency in inter-governmental relations. See HudsonM.O., “Registration and Publication of Treaties,” 19 A.J.I.L. 273 (1925); R.B. Lillich, “The Obligation to Register Treaties and International Agreements with the United Nations,” 65 A.J.I.L. p. 771 (1971).

Regulations to give effect to Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations, UNTS Vol. 859/860 p.viii, last revised by General Assembly Resolution 33/141, 19 December 1978 and by Resolution A/RES/52/153, hereinafter referred to as the Regulations.

This document was placed on the UNTC in 2002.

The Secretary-General derives his authority for performing the depositary function for multilateral treaties from:

Last updated in 1994.

UN Sales No. E.02.V.2.

This is a major exercise involving a number of Departments and work is currently progressing on the years 1985 – 1988.

Art. 102, Charter of the United Nations, op.cit. The UNTS has been published since 1946.

The other is the Annual Report of the Secretary-General.

The disintegration of the former Soviet Union and of the Former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslav was particularly significant events in this respect. The readmission of Yugoslavia to the United Nations by Resolution A/55/12 on 1 November 2000 resulted in the submission of 243 new treaty actions relating to treaties deposited with the Secretary-General initially. Further treaty actions were submitted later, including to other depositaries.

There are over 1400 active multilateral treaties in existence. See BowmanM.J. and HarrisD.J., “Multilateral Treaties, Eleventh Cumulative Supplement” (1995).

The League of Nations also adopted a wide interpretation of Article 18 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. See HUDSONM.O., “The Registration of Treaties,” 24 A.J.I.L.752 (1930).

“Every treaty or international agreement, whatever its form and descriptive name, entered into by one or more Members of the United Nations after 24 October 1945, date of entry into force of the Charter, shall as soon as possible be registered with the Secretariat in accordance with these Regulations,” Article 1 (1) of the Regulations.

A treaty is an instrument concluded between two parties being subjects of international law and possessing treaty making capacity, creating legal rights and obligations governed by international law. The characterization employed to describe the instrument is not considered to be a determining factor; See Treaty Handbook, No. E.02.V.2, page 25; also see AustA., Modern Treaty Law and Practice, p. 14 et seq. (2000).

See Art. 4(2) of the Regulations.

See Art. 4(1) of the Regulations.

Non-Member States also undertake treaty actions in relation to treaties deposited with the Secretary-General.

See Art. 2 of the Regulations.

24 January 2002, LA41TR/230; also see, A/RES/54/28.

Secretary-General called upon” …all relevant United Nations entities to provide the necessary technical assistance that will make it possible for every willing state to participate fully in the emerging global legal order,” Millennium Report, A/54/2000, para. 327 et seq; also see, Road map towards the implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. The Secretary-General, under the goal of strengthening the international rule of law, referred to “Supporting States to implement international legal commitments, including treaties, and developing United Nations mechanisms, such as the Treaty Handbook, to help Governments draft legislation and run training programs on aspects of international law;” A/56/326, Section II (A), para. 20; also A/55/1, para. 279.

See Article 10 of the Regulations.

See Article 12 of the Regulations; The League of Nations Treaty Series consists of 205 volumes.

“The Secretariat shall publish as soon as possible in a single series every treaty or international agreement which is registered or filed and recorded, in the original language or languages, followed by a translation in English and in French…,” Article 12(1) of the Regulations.

The current rate of publication is around 120 volumes per year.

A/RES/54/28; See also GA RES.482(v), 12 December 1950.

In 1996, over 550 volumes of the UNTS remained to be published. The annual intake of registered material is the equivalent of approximately 47 published volumes, or roughly 3300 registered treaties.

In 1972, the backlog stood at approximately 172 volumes. Almost 15,000 treaties had been registered or filed and recorded since 1946. It increased steadily since then.

In 1997, the backlog was estimated at over 11 years. In excess of 25,000 registered treaties remained to be published.

See para. 12, A/RES/53/100; see also, para.4, A/RES/51/158; however, no additional resources were provided; also see author's note in A.J.I.L Vol. 92, No. 1, p. 140 (January 1998).

Electronic Treaty Database, A/RES/51/158.

Treaties or international agreements are either scanned in or inputted directly through diskette or e-mail.

All published volumes of the UNTS up to volume 1623 (approximately corresponding to the registration year 1986) had already been scanned and placed on a proprietary database. The UNTS Cumulative Index which had been produced from a small database not directly linked to the mainframe has now been amalgamated with the new database.

“The Secretariat shall publish as soon as possible in a single series every treaty or international agreement which is registered or filed and recorded, in the original language or languages, followed by a translation in English and in French…,” Article 12(1) of the Regulations.

In 1995, 28 volumes of the UNTS were printed. In 1996, 27. In 2001, 126 volumes were printed and 150 were finalized for printing.

For example, the question has arisen sometimes whether the parties to an instrument possess the necessary treaty making capacity; SimmaB., op. cit. at para 26, p.1111.

Some Member states have already begun to comply with this suggestion.

See operative para. 6 in A/RES/52/153; also A/RES/53/100; A/RES/54/28.

See Notes Verbales of the legal Counsel of the United Nations to Permanent Representatives to the United Nations in New York of 22 April 1996, LA 41TR/230, of 2 April 1997, LA 41TR/230 and… LA 41TR/230.

See Resolution RES/482 (v) of 12 December 1950 which invited Member states “to provide Secretary General, where feasible, with translations in English and French or both as may be needed for purpose of such publication.”

See para.6.of A/RES/54/28; A/RES/53/100; A/RES/52/153; also see the Notes Verbales of the Legal Counsel, op. cit.

See UN Doc. A/C.6/32/5/Add. 1; A/52/363; By its Resolution A/RES/33/141 of 19 December 1978 amending Article 12 of the Regulations, the General Assembly gave the Secretariat the option not to publish in extenso certain categories of bilateral treaties or international agreements belonging to one of the following categories, (Article 12 paragraph 2):

See Note by the Secretariat, in untreaty.un.org.

See Resolution A/RES/52/153 of 15 December 1997. The General Assembly amended Article 12 of the Regulations and extended the option not to publish in extenso to multilateral treaties falling within the same categories. Operative Paragraph 7 states, “Invites the Secretary-General to apply the provisions of Article 12, Paragraph 2 of the Regulations to give effect to Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations to multilateral treaties falling within the terms of Article 12 paragraph 2(a) to (c).”

Art. 12(2) of the Regulations.

See Treaty Handbook, op. cit., at p.33.

The special treaty ceremony “Treaty Event- Treaties on Terrorism” which was held at UN Headquarters from 10 to 16 November 2001 attracted 180 different treaty actions. These were processed and published on a daily basis.

At the end of 2001, all printed volumes up to April 1998 (over 2000 volumes) had been made available on the Internet. All volumes up to December 2000 will be placed on the Internet in 2002.

See “Review Essay,” HarmsW., International Journal of Legal Information, Vol.29, No.2, p.501, (Summer 2001).

See A/RES/51/158.

Para. 7, A/RES/54/102; also see A/RES/52/153; A/RES/53/100; GA Document A/56/586.

Para.4.1(a), ST/AI/2001/5.

A view also held by TrotskyLeon, SimmaB., op. cit. at para. 1, p. 1104.

Only about 450 copies of the printed version of each volume of the UNTS were purchased by the public in the entire world; see GA Document A/52/363 at p.6.

The author has discussed the increasing role of NGO's in international norm making in, KohonaP.T.B., “The Role of Non-State Entities in the Making and Implementation of International Norms” 2 J.W.I.3, September 2001, p.537.

See PintoM.C.W., “Democratization of International Law and its Implications for Development and Application of International Law,” United Nations Congress on Public International Law, 15 March 1995.

Foreword by AnnanMr Kofi to the, Millennium Summit, Multilateral Treaty Framework: An Invitation to Universal Participation, DPI/2130 (2000).

See Art. 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice. Also see, GambleJ.K. and KuC., “International Law - New Actors and New Technologies: Centre Stage for NGOs”, Law and Policy in International Business, Vol. 31 No. 2. p. 221 (Winter 2000).

Figures recorded at the end of November 2001.

See Section 5, para. 5.1, United Nations Internet Publishing, ST/AI/2001/5.

UNTS Vol. 943 p.311.

See copyright notice, Annex to ST/AI/2001/5.

See Section 3 para. 3.6, United Nations Internet Publishing, ST/AI/2001/5.

See, AlstonP., “Charging for Access to International Law Treaty Information: Time for the UN to Rethink a Perverse Initiative”, 12 E.J.I.L. No.2, p.351 (2001).

A/RES/51/158.

Para.56, A/52/363 at p.8.

See para. 9, A/RES/52/153.

See para. 11, A/RES/53/100.

Agreements dealing with commodities are terminated or superseded most frequently due to their short life span.

Treaty actions, such as reservations, declarations and objections may be submitted to the depositary in languages other than English or French, requiring translation into these languages.

Sometimes, special political circumstances may result in an upsurge in the number of treaty actions being undertaken by States. The transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong to China in 1997 resulted in over 200 treaty actions in a short period. The readmission of Yugoslavia to the United Nations on 1 November resulted in an excess of 240 treaty actions. The legal analyses of some of the resulting issues occupied weeks.

Depositary notifications with attachments, which tend to be a small minority, continue to be sent by facsimile due to technical reasons.

See, Para. 326, Millennium Report, 1999–2000 (A/54/2000).

See The United Nations Treaty Collection on the Internet at untreaty.un.org.

DPI/2130.

Multilateral Treaty Framework – An Invitation to Universal Participation, Focus 2001: Rights of Women and Children, UN Publication.

See Para. 326, Millennium Report, 1999–2000, A/54/2000.

See Para. 327, Ibid.

See Para. 297, A/55/1.

Printed in 2001 and available on the UN Treaty Collection on the Internet.

“Also requests the Secretary-General to ensure that hard copies of the publications mentioned in paragraph 9 continue to be distributed to permanent missions free of charge in accordance with their needs;” para. 11, A/RES/52/153.

Treaties registered up to the end of 2001 would be processed in 2002 and will be printed during the year, if translations are received in time.