No Exit?a Preliminary Examination of the Legal Consequences of United States’ Notification of Withdrawal from the Optional Protocol to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations

Abstract

The United States' withdrawal from the Optional Protocol on compulsory settlement disputes before the International Court did not involve United States' withdrawal from or denunciation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR), whose obligations continue to bind the United States. It was, rather, an effort to exclude the jurisdiction of the International Court from reviewing US compliance with the obligations of the treaty. The United States had withdrawn from the case on the grounds that the Court had exceeded its jurisdiction and the US subsequently denounced its 1946 declaration. The United States, despite its attempt to withdraw from the Optional Protocol to VCCR, may yet find itself faced with the prospect of still another state party invoking the Optional Protocol before the International Court in a case it can plausibly claim arises under Article 36 of the VCCR. Keywords: Optional Protocol; United States; Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR)