They are a fundamental source of International law; treaties are nothing but agreements on the international stage and they represent successful products of effective deliberations and diligent considerations.
The law of treaties needs to be assessed from the light of The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 1969 which regulates treaty provisions. The Vienna Convention governs all the legal, structural, functional matters concerning treaties. It is the product of the meticulous work of the International Law Commission from 1949 till 1966 when the commission submitted its final report to the General Assembly. Upon the recommendation of the commission, the General Assembly by resolution 2166 (XXI) of 5 December 1966 decided to convene an international conference of plenipotentiaries to consider the law of treaties and to embody the results of its work in an international convention and such other instruments as it may deem appropriate. It is one of the most revered accomplishments of the work of the United Nations, in the evolution and development of International Law. The Conference after its First and Second sessions with effective deliberations and consideration adopted the “Vienna Convention on Law of Treaties” on 22 May 1969. It entered into force on 27 January 1980. The Convention is made up of a preamble, eighty-five articles, and an annex. Also, it is open for accession by any non-signatory State entitled to become a party. Currently, 116 states are party to the convention.
Within the ambit of the instrument, as stated in Article 2(1)(a), a treaty is an international agreement between states that is both concluded: "in written form and governed by international law whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related instruments and whatever its particular designation." Treaties can be finalized in one single document or be the result of the exchange of several diplomatic notes or texts. This convention does not cover those international agreements between the subjects of International Law which are not written in form as stated in Article 3 of the convention: "The fact that the present Convention does not apply to international agreements concluded between States and other subjects of international law or between such other subjects of international law, or to international agreements not in written form, shall not affect the legal force of such agreements, the application to them of any of the rules set forth in the present Convention to which they would be subject under international law independently of the Convention, the application of the Convention to the relations of States as between themselves under international agreements to which other subjects of international law are also parties".
A treaty can be known by several terms such as a convention, pact, charter, covenant, protocol, memorandum of understanding, statute, among others. It requires that the agreement be concluded in written form and also governed by international law rather than domestic law. International agreements having the force of international law are juxtaposed to political agreements that are not binding and are therefore not governed by international law. Not every agreement concluded between International subjects is a treaty but only those agreements that parties tacitly or expressly agree to submit to international law are recognized as valid treaties.
The Vienna Convention lays down comprehensive rules regarding the structure and functioning of treaties. From the process of establishment of a treaty to the suspension of a treaty, it lays down general rules of international law. Since most of its core provisions reflect customary international law, the substantive rules contained in the Vienna Convention also govern treaties contracted by States that are not a party to it. Those substantive rules are not applicable to those treaties as rules of the Vienna Convention, but as rules of customary international law. And for the same reason, those substantive rules also govern treaties concluded by States before they became a party to the Vienna Convention.
Under Article 102 of the United Nations Charter, Member States have an obligation to register with the UN Secretariat every treaty and every international agreement they have entered into. This is an attempt towards the mitigation of irreparable prejudice and associated peril with the Secrecy of Treaties. In fact, it is also believed that the Secret treaties helped spark the First World War. Many of them have provided for alliances, mutual defense, and assistance in case one of the contracting States is in a state of war against a third State. Because of their nature of secrecy, those treaties have been considered to be dangerous and undesirable for the unforeseeable consequences they rise to. The idea of the incorporation of such a provision to ban Secret treaties was found in Article 18 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, which provided that the League Members must register their treaties with the League Secretariat in order for them to be published.
Today the principal matters covered in the Vienna Convention include: conclusion and entry into force of treaties (part II), including reservations and provisional application of treaties; observance, application and interpretation of treaties (part III), including treaties and third States; amendment and modification of treaties (part IV); invalidity, termination and suspension of the operation of treaties (part V), including the procedure for the application of the provisions of that part and for the settlement of disputes concerning the application or interpretation of those provisions, and the consequences of the invalidity, termination or suspension of the operation of a treaty; miscellaneous provisions (part VI), reserving cases of State succession, State responsibility and outbreak of hostilities, as well as the case of an aggressor State, and dealing with the severance or absence of diplomatic or consular relations and the conclusion of treaties; and depositaries, notifications, corrections and registration (part VII). The conciliation procedure referred to in article 66 of part V is specified in an annex to the Convention. The text of the Convention is reproduced in annex V, section F.
In conclusion, Treaties are considered one of the primary sources of Contemporary International Law. Article 38(1)(a) of the statute of International Court of Justice states: "The Court, whose function is to decide in accordance with international law such disputes as are submitted to it, shall apply international conventions, whether general or particular, establishing rules expressly recognized by the contesting states". It is axiomatic that treaties today govern International Law. And beneath the global spectrum Treaties are the “Champions of Law and Guardians of Justice”.
By Vishwom Revankar
Vishwom Revankar is a 20-year-old from India. He is currently pursuing a Law Degree in the Karnataka State Law University. His fields of interest include Law, Politics, History, International Relations, Philosophy, Business & management, and Altruism. He is the founder of the UBB Org. dedicated to strengthening intellectual youth for research, social awareness, and equality. He is a member of the Indian National Bar Association, and also a global member of the Internet Society. He desires to build a new world order where there is no poverty, illiteracy, class discrimination, violence, and a society with equality, amity, literacy, and peace.
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