International Treaty System Research Articles

Protection of Seafarers' Rights and Interests by International Treaties

In 2006, the ILO adopted the Maritime Labour Convention, which has had an important impact on the rights of seafarers worldwide and the promotion of the international maritime industry. In recent years, China's labor and social security legal system has been gradually improved, and legal norms such as the Regulations on Seafarers and the Maritime Traffic Safety Law have been promulgated and implemented successively, laying a certain foundation for the system of labor norms for seafarers. However, these special legislation has some limitations, such as not strong operability and not identical with the international treaty system. This paper mainly studies the framework structure and implementation mechanism of maritime labor conventions, finds out China's application method of international law, and puts forward the shortcomings of China's implementation process and corresponding countermeasures and suggestions suitable for the current situation of Chinese seafarers. By combining theory with practice, this paper uses literature analysis and analysis deduction to find out the strategies that can optimize the implementation mechanism in China. At present, China has made a lot of preparations for the implementation of maritime labor conventions, carried out a lot of legislative activities, and has already acquired relevant legislative experience and technology. Improving the labor supervision system and making full use of the tripartite mechanism platform and industry associations are the top priorities for China to better implement international conventions and protect the rights and interests of seafarers in the next stage.

Achmea and its Aftermath – How did we get here and where do we go from here?

The Achmea decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) triggered case law and developments which caused a profound impact on the system of investment protection within the European Union. Ostensibly, it deals with issues of jurisdiction but at its core it is about the relationship and the hierarchy between legal systems – between the law of the European Union, public international law and the international treaty system.

Non-legally Binding Agreements in International Relations: An Estonian Perspective

Legally non-binding international agreements branded as soft law generally receive little respect and are only rarely studied, yet they are becoming ever more common in international relations, stepping on the toes of the international treaty system. Estonia too is concluding memorandums of understanding (MoUs) more and more often and this Chapter gives an overview of its national views and practice. Estonian national legislation sets few limits to legally non-binding agreements, creating a flexible alternative for conducting diplomacy, and MoUs are beneficial especially for establishing contacts and setting out general areas of cooperation. However, procedural complexity seems to be only a small part of the reason why MoUs are often preferred to treaties – more often it is the lack of a legally binding nature itself that is appealing for the participants and such agreements are deemed binding by other means. A lot of effort goes into keeping MoUs clearly legally non-binding, using specific wording and specific terminology to distinguish them from treaties. Yet despite this distinction, MoUs can still affect the international treaty system by way of related interpretation and gradual development of state behaviour and customary international law. MoUs should therefore be drafted with thorough care and quality, in close cooperation with legal experts. A concept so heavily used with considerable effects should be studied and discussed rather than ostracized as simply not being part of the well-known treaty system under international law.

Recent Developments in International Climate Change Law

Abstract This article discusses recent developments in international climate change law, in respect of which Pacific island countries and territories (PICs) have made a particularly significant contribution. PICs have been instrumental in shaping the international climate change treaty regime since its inception in the early 1990s. Since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015, however, progress has stalled – and even more so since the global pandemic. With a focus on the Suva Declaration on Climate Change released prior to negotiations in Paris, this article assesses progress in two areas that have received considerable attention from PIC representatives due to their importance to the region: the long-term temperature goal and the Talanoa Dialogue; and the issue of loss and damage. While PICs have managed to make gains in both areas, climate change science indicates that current global efforts are insufficient to avoid catastrophic climate change impacts for the Pacific region. In light of this, certain PIC leaders are looking outside of the international treaty system for other ways to protect their communities and ecosystems.

States simply do not care: The failure of international securitisation of drug control in Afghanistan

The link between the world drug problem and securitisation has been predominantly established to argue that an existential threat discourse reinforces the international prohibitionist regime and makes it harder for alternative policy models to arise. This analysis is problematic for three main reasons. Firstly, it overestimates the current strength of the international drug control regime as a normative and regulatory system that prescribes state behaviour. Secondly, the current international regime does not inhibit policy reforms. While the international treaty system proves resistant to change, it is at the national and local levels where new drug policies arise. Moreover, these are generally not the draconian or emergency measures that successful securitisation would predict. Thirdly, the analysis so far misinterprets criminalisation or militarisation as evidence of securitisation. As the case of Afghanistan shows, securitisation attempts, such as those linking the Taliban and the illicit opium economy, may have reinforced the militarisation of drug control in Afghanistan, but did not elevate the illicit drug economy as an external threat or a top priority. While there have been short-lived spikes of attention and provincial level campaigns to eradicate poppy cultivation, these have never translated into a sustained structural effort to combat illicit drugs in Afghanistan. Even the latest push for militarisation, the US-led campaign of airstrikes on drug processing laboratories since November 2017, represents more a shift in counter-insurgency strategy than successful securitisation. While Afghanistan’s illicit drug economy has been politicised for several reasons, states are not convinced that this economy somehow represents an existential threat to their survival.

Governance through Global Networks and Corporate Signaling

The article exposes a new form of global governance based on an emergent network of corporate social responsibility (CSR) schemes. Our study is the first to uncover the network structure of this system, based on a dataset that includes 61 transnational CSR schemes and 31,987 firms. We demonstrate that the network exhibits a significant level of cohesiveness, despite having evolved outside the formal framework of the international treaty system. Drawing on social network analysis, we find a positive correlation between the sustainability performance of the firms, their membership in CSR schemes, and their network characteristics. We show that membership in multiple schemes and the firms’ position in the CSR-schemes network constitute credible predictors of their sustainability performance, generating a separating equilibrium that distinguishes top CSR performers from low ones. We develop a model that explains the effectiveness of the CSR-schemes network, based on the network synergistic properties and on a distinctive signaling dynamic. Our findings highlight the potential contribution of CSR to the resolution of global governance dilemmas.

Towards a Revision of the UN Drug Control Conventions: The Logic and Dilemmas of Like-Minded Groups

Towards a Revision of the UN Drug Control Conventions: The Logic and Dilemmas of Like-Minded Groups

Regime change: Re-visiting the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs

BackgroundMarch 2011 marked the 50th anniversary of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. This legal instrument, the bedrock of the current United Nations based global drug control regime, is often viewed as merely a consolidating treaty bringing together the multilateral drug control agreements that preceded it; an erroneous position that does little to provide historical context for contemporary discussions surrounding revision of the international treaty system. MethodThis article applies both historical and international relations perspectives to revisit the development of the Convention. Framing discussion within the context of regime theory, a critique of the foundational pre-1961 treaties is followed by detailed content analysis of the official records of the United Nations conference for the adoption of a Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and, mindful of later treaties, an examination of the treaty's status as a ‘single’ convention. ResultsThe Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs represents a significant break with the regulative focus of the preceding multilateral treaties; a shift towards a more prohibitive outlook that within international relations terms can be regarded as a change of regime rather than the straightforward codification of earlier instruments. In this respect, the article highlights the abolition of drug use that for centuries had been embedded in the social, cultural and religious traditions of many non-Western states. Further, although often-overlooked, the Convention has failed in its aim of being the ‘single’ instrument within international drug control. The supplementing treaties developed in later years and under different socio-economic and political circumstances have resulted in significant inconsistencies within the control regime. ConclusionHaving established that a shift in normative focus has taken place in the past, the article concludes that it is timely for the international community to revisit the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs with a view to correcting past errors and inconsistencies within the regime, particularly those relating to Scheduling and traditional drug use.

Drug Policy and the Public Good: a summary of the book

Drug Policy and the Public Good was written by an international group of scientists from the fields of addiction, public health, criminology and policy studies to improve the linkages between drug research and drug policy. The book provides a conceptual basis for evidence-informed drug policy and describes epidemiological data on the global dimensions of drug misuse. The core of the book is a critical review of the cumulative scientific evidence in five general areas of drug policy: primary prevention programmes in schools and other settings; health and social services for drug users; attempts to control the supply of drugs, including the international treaty system; law enforcement and ventures into decriminalization; and control of the psychotropic substance market through prescription drug regimes. The final chapters discuss the current state of drug policies in different parts of the world and describe the need for future approaches to drug policy that are coordinated and informed by evidence.

Challenging the UN drug control conventions: problems and possibilities

Increasing numbers of sovereign states are beginning to review their stance on the prohibition based UN drug control conventions. Recent years have seen nations implement, or seriously discuss, tolerant drug policies that exploit the latitude existing within the legal framework of the global drug control regime. With efforts to implement pragmatic approaches to drug use at the national level, however, comes the growing recognition that the flexibility of the conventions is not unlimited. It seems that the time is not too distant when further movement within states away from the prohibitive paradigm will only be possible through some sort of change in or defection from the regime. This article suggests that efforts to implement treaty revision are fraught with difficulties. It will be shown how the UN procedures permitting revision of the conventions allow nations supporting the current prohibition based system, particularly the United States of America, to easily block change. The article argues that such systemic obstacles may lead parties wishing to appreciably expand policy space at a national level to consider a form of treaty withdrawal. It is suggested that such action by a group of like-minded revision oriented states may be sufficient to trigger a weakening of the regime. The article contends, however, that total withdrawal would be a problematic option, not least because it would have serious consequences for the entire international treaty system.