The Vienna Convention regime on reservations is adequate for all kinds of treaties, including human rights treaties. Do you agree?
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Date
2023-01-10
Authors
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Saudi Digital Library
Abstract
The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) is one of the cornerstones of
international law, setting forth the rules and procedures for forming, terminating, and
interpreting treaties between states. An important aspect of the Convention relates
to reservations, or the ability of states to make declarations and statements that
modify certain treaty provisions. In effect, a reservation enables a state to be party to
a treaty while excluding the legal impact of a specific treaty provision to which it is
opposed. The only limitations that the Convention imposes on reservations concern
those that a treaty expressly bans, or specific reservations that are explicitly
authorised. Moreover, the reservation must not contradict the treaty's intent or
purpose, as determined by the parties themselves.
Description
The VCLT’s system of treaty reservations is a huge leap forward from the
system established by the League of Nations, since the latter did not allow individual
states to issue reservations.
Keywords
Vienna Convention, human rights treaties, Law of Treaties
Citation
Oxford