Treaty Compliance Research Articles

BWC confidence-building measures: Increasing BWC assurance through transparency and information sharing.

In the absence of a treaty protocol or verification regime, the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) instituted confidence-building measures (CBMs) as a mechanism to increase confidence in compliance by enhancing transparency and mitigating ambiguities regarding states parties' biological activities. While a promising tool to support treaty compliance, low participation, concerns regarding the completeness and accuracy of CBM submissions, a dearth of analysis, and restricted access to many submissions have limited CBMs' value. Through interviews with 53 international experts-38 from BWC delegations and 15 independent experts-we identified concrete opportunities to increase CBMs' value while mitigating the burden on states parties. This study supports states parties' efforts in the BWC Working Group on the Strengthening of the Convention, as part of a series of research on BWC assurance that aims to characterize challenges around BWC verification and increase certainty in BWC compliance.

Inter-State Communications before UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies: Testing the Waters for Collective Communications

Abstract The awakening of inter-state communications with the first ever three cases before the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2018 has inspired new avenues of research about their potential and shortfalls. This article opens a new line of exploration, considering the mechanism’s potential as an avenue for collective action at a time when many States are responding to violations of international law, even when not directly affected by those violations. Those responses have included massive third-party interventions (Ukraine v Russia), and the initiation of proceedings before the icj by States not directly injured (The Gambia v Myanmar, Canada and the Netherlands v Syrian Arab Republic, South Africa v Israel). This article argues that enabling collective inter-state communications before UN treaty bodies could strengthen the mechanism as an avenue for treaty compliance and the protection of human rights, and for amplifying sovereign voices as part of peaceful dispute settlement processes.

Gamma noise to non-invasively monitor nuclear research reactors

Autonomous nuclear reactor monitoring is a key aspect of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s strategy to ensure nonproliferation treaty compliance. From the rise of small modular reactor technology, decentralized nuclear reactor fleets may strain the capacities of such monitoring and requires new approaches. We demonstrate the superior capabilities of a gamma detection system to monitor the criticality of a zero power nuclear reactor from beyond typical vessel boundaries, offering a powerful alternative to neutron-based systems by providing direct information on fission chain propagation. Using the case example of the research reactor CROCUS, we demonstrate how two bismuth germanate scintillators placed outside the reactor vessel can precisely observe reactor criticality using so called noise methods and provide core status information in seconds. Our results indicate a wide range of applications due to the newly gained geometric flexibility that could find use in fields beyond nuclear safety.

ACTION OF CHINESE COURTS WITH THE ANTI-TORTURE LEGAL OBLIGATION UNDER THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE: A SOCIO-LEGAL NARRATIVE CRITIQUE ANALYSIS OF APPLICATION OF LAW AND LEGAL REASONING

Background: The most of critique is based mainly on the previous literature, namely, that Chinese dynamic institutional structures’ silence may have exacerbated the miscarriage of justice and obtain illegal evidence in criminal proceedings in China. However, the fact that torture to extract confessions and maltreatment of prisoner’s cases involve judicial decision-making by Chinese hierarchical courts has been disregarded. Objective: Taking China's outward telling and internal judicial reforms as starting positions, the article focuses on address the knowledge gap that torture to extract confessions and maltreatment of prisoner’s cases involving the application of law and legal reasoning regarding how Chinese domestic courts' actions is related to the interpretation of torture and domestic compliance with international conventions. The causes of action include torture to extract confessions, maltreatment of prisoners in criminal scenarios, and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment involving detention in police custody (garde a vue) and outside custodial settings. The article also examines how Chinese hierarchical courts have implemented their judicial practice in accordance with international obligations to prohibit and prevent torture under United Nations Convention against Torture. Methods: Process tracing is a qualitative research method that examines causal processes connecting results to potential causes form socio-legal perspectives, focusing on varying time stages. It is essential for within-case analysis based on qualitative data. Implication: This article highlights the intricate relationship between the definition of torture in law in context in UNCAT and treaty compliance by China domestic court, addressing flaws in previous court decisions and responding to those points of view to gain a more in-depth understanding of the dynamics underlying cases of confessions extracted under torture, ill-treatment in prisons and outside custodial settings (garde a vue) in China's criminal judicial system.

What Would Be Necessary to Construct a Rule Framework for Sustainability in the New Western Land–Sea Corridor? An Analysis Based on Green International Rule of Law

The New Western Land–Sea Corridor is the lifeline of international cargo transportation between China and the ASEAN. Transit transportation causes environmental damage to transit countries, and there is an urgent need to establish a sustainable rule framework for the New Western Land–Sea Corridor. The international rule of law originates from the documents of the United Nations General Assembly. The theoretical foundation of green transportation is sustainability. The connections and interactions between sustainability and the international rule of law constitute a green international rule of law. From the perspective of the green international rule of law, there are challenges in establishing a sustainable rule framework, such as the limited capacity of transit countries to ensure ecological security, the insufficient supply of collective efforts based on international environmental protection rules, the abuse of environmental protection exceptions leading to trade barriers, and conflicting judgments arising from parallel environmental infringement lawsuits. This article adopts the methods of text research, conceptual interpretation, and comparative research. China should take the green international rule of law as guidance, establish a green foreign aid mechanism for the New Western Land–Sea Corridor, explore an independent contribution mechanism for international environmental protection rules based on collective efforts, adhere to the principle of treaty compliance to limit the abuse of environmental protection exceptions, and build a diversified environmental dispute prevention and resolution mechanism for the New Western Land–Sea Corridor.

Dignity Deployed: An Examination of Refugee Rights through Domestic Dignity Jurisprudence

Abstract The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention) provides protection for people with a well-founded fear of persecution who find themselves outside their country of nationality. The treaty not only sets out a legal status for those recognized as refugees by the country of asylum, but also certain civil, political, social, and economic rights throughout the refugee status determination process. Yet, despite being faced with the highest numbers of displaced people since the Second World War, States parties to the Refugee Convention routinely fail to meet the standards set out by the Convention. This article explores how domestic courts enforce treaty compliance not as a matter of international law, but rather by using the concept of constitutional dignity. The discussion examines how constitutional courts around the world have used dignity as both a substantive right and a functional standard in order to fulfil the promises of the Refugee Convention. The article concludes with an argument for dignity as a powerful tool to fill gaps in refugee protection globally.

Is racism in emergency care contributing to higher Māori mortality rates?

Is racism in emergency care contributing to higher Māori mortality rates?

Mutually assured surveillance at risk: Anti-satellite weapons and cold war arms control

ABSTRACT In the early 1970s, Moscow and Washington had established a satellite verification regime to monitor arms control treaty compliance. Satellites had become a primary source of transparency and stability in superpower relations. Yet by the end of the 1970s, both the United States and the USSR were developing anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons that could destroy observation satellites. This article uses recently declassified archival documents to show that Jimmy Carter pushed for ASAT limits due to his broader arms control agenda, whereas Ronald Reagan rejected ASAT arms control primarily because of its potential impact on the Strategic Defense Initiative.

Rehistoricizing the Nile Waters Agreement, 1948–1963 The view from the British Colonial Office and its afterlife

This article examines the final years of colonialism and the establishment of independent government in East Africa, particularly Uganda. It finds that the British broke from the Nile Wa- ters Agreement by not only ceasing to recognize it but by also circumventing the process for ensuring treaty compliance. They did so on behalf of foreign investors seeking irrigation water. Furthermore, this article shows why the colonial government in Uganda integrated the proposal to flood Lake Albert – which would displace many Ugandans – into discussions about the treaty. The government based this decision on Cold War politics, the personal biases of its advisers and technocratic designs for resettling the region. To contextualize the lack of scholarly analysis re- garding these issues, this article examines how former colonial officials became diplomats, then scholars, who downplayed their treaty breakage and their roles supporting the proposal to flood Lake Albert. Providing further context for the lack of analysis regarding Uganda, it shows how the independent Ugandan government navigated the ambiguous situation that the British left. It also finds that scholars have reproduced the Lake Albert proposal without considering its local signifi- cance. I conclude that although the colonial breakage from the Nile Waters Agreement left the in- dependent governments with no relationship to it, the present role of the Ugandan government in Nile governance is part of a resurgence of foreign investments in East Africa. Outsider control of Lake Victoria is becoming entrenched even as the influence of the Nile Waters Agreement wanes.

Mining the Milky Way: How to Bring America’s Extraterrestrial Excursions Back Into Compliance With International Obligations

In November of 2015, the 114th United States Congress enacted the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015 (Space Act) and, in turn, thrusted the door to outer space mining wide open for Americans. Unfortunately, while the Space Act provided a solution for corporations, it created a di- lemma for the United States. As currently enacted, the Space Act directly conflicts with the world’s foundational and most basic framework for international space law: The Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (Outer Space Treaty). To reassure other signatories and to ensure the United States complies with its international obligations under the Outer Space Treaty, Congress should establish a centralized regulatory authority to govern the activities of American entities in outer space and amend the Space Act to require bonding and permit- ting processes for entities wishing to engage in asteroid mining. This Article is the first to analyze how to modify existing legislation to impose sufficient regulation so the United States may once again comply with its international obligations under Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty. This Article will show that given the inherent risks of outer space mining, the intent and origins of the Outer Space Treaty, and the conflicting allowances contained in the Space Act, changes must be enacted to ensure that the tradition of treaty compliance and mineral- extraction regulation does not stop at our planet’s troposphere.

Review: Treaties and Their Practice -- Symptoms of Their Rise and Decline

This essay reviews George Nolte’s 2018 book, Treaties and their Practice – Symptoms of Their Rise and Decline. In particular, it engages with Nolte’s analogy of treaty-making to the crew tying Ulysses to the mast in their encounter with the Sirens. It surveys a range of the most important treaty regimes today, including treaties on (i) international peace and security; (ii) human rights; (iii) trade; (iv) investment; and (v) the environment (chiefly, climate change). In doing so, the essay explores whether (and how well) Nolte employs treaty “practice” as a less myopic vehicle for evaluating modern treaty-making than the conventional emphasis on treaty texts alone. In particular, the review highlights a series of reinforcing dichotomies that Nolte (and others) may use to evaluate treaty-making – contrasting the treaty’s rise with its decline; narrow meanings of practice with broad ones; legal applications with political tensions; treaty compliance with treaty effectiveness; and a bird’s eye view with the perspective of a worm. Each dichotomy helps international lawyers look beyond treaty texts and reorient their focal points for a broader – and more pluralist – vision of the role of treaties in the current age.

When States Crack Down on Human Rights Defenders

Abstract Research suggests that civil society mobilization together with the ratification of human rights treaties put pressure on governments to improve their human rights practices. An unexplored theoretical implication is that pressure provokes counterpressure. Instead of improving treaty compliance, some governments will have an interest in demobilizing civil society to silence their critics. Yet we do not know how and to what extent this incentive shapes governments’ policies and practices regarding civil society organizations. In this article we argue and show—using a new global database of government-sponsored restrictions on civil society organizations—that when governments have committed to human rights treaties and, at the same time, continue to commit severe human rights abuses, they impose restrictions on civil society groups to avoid monitoring and mitigate the international costs of abuses.

The Deep Crisis of Nuclear Arms Control and Disarmament: The State of Play and the Challenges

ABSTRACTAfter the golden age of arms control, Russia and the United States are no longer engaged in arms control negotiations. The landmark Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was officially terminated on 2 August 2019, and the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) expires in February 2021. The continued political alienation between Russia and the West, combined with new military-technological developments, will undermine strategic stability. A new arms race is looming with severe implications for global nuclear disarmament, nonproliferation, and regional stability. Neither superpower seems to have a strategy for developing arms control and disarmament. On the contrary, both sides are pursuing costly programs to replace and modernize their Cold War strategic arsenals. A more ambitious approach is necessary for further reductions in nuclear arsenals and the extension of long-standing arms control commitments. The collapse of the INF Treaty could have been prevented by reciprocal inspections to verify treaty compliance. The United States and Russia can agree to extend New START to 2026 and to undertake a wider and structured discussion about what they could do to enhance strategic stability. Such a model must take into account third-country actors, missile defense, precision-guided conventional strike systems, and future actions in outer space and cyberspace. NATO and Russia need to launch a substantive dialogue on how to reduce the risk of hazardous military activities and to prevent military escalation caused by accidents and miscalculations. Other nuclear-armed states and their different types of delivery systems must be part of the disarmament process.

A Model for National Human Rights Systems? New Governance and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

ABSTRACTThe 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) epitomises the institutional turn of the international human rights regime in two ways. It requests that States Parties conform to specific organisational features, and aims at transforming not only state behaviour, but also social norms of all actors in society, to anchor a human rights approach to disability. At the centre of this exercise lies CRPD Article 33 on ‘National Implementation and Monitoring’, which foresees that States Parties should establish or appoint focal points, coordination mechanisms and independent monitoring bodies. In addition, the principle of participation permeates the Convention.This article analyses attempts by norm entrepreneurs to design models for human rights systems based on the CRPD, and in particular the convergence of those models towards institutional arrangements inspired by new governance theories. Building upon a study of Article 33 scholarship, the article discusses the validity of such interpretations. It calls to carefully consider the implications of those new governance-oriented interpretations, notably how they challenge the role of courts and litigation, and potentially recasts the meaning of rights and responsibility. The article concludes on the need to better integrate different treaty compliance paths.

Human Rights in a Climate Changed World: The Impact of COP21, Nationally Determined Contributions, and National Courts

This Article chronicles the growing acknowledgment of climate change’s impacts on human rights and how it affected the COP21 negotiations. It puts this human rights advocacy campaign into the broader context of the new agreement's architecture at the heart of the negotiations. The Article then describes six national cases brought to date, and analyzes how they use international climate change norms when making domestic law claims. Finally, it concludes with several observations about how the Paris Agreement’s nationally determined contributions may ultimately lead to greater treaty compliance via nationally determined enforcement. This method can complement the facilitative international compliance mechanisms inscribed in the new agreement while closing the accountability gap. In doing so, it also puts into practice the aspirational human rights language in the Paris Agreement preamble.

US refugee resettlement policy and international human rights treaty obligations: a mixed record

This article analyses the extent to which the USA's current refugee resettlement policy in the areas of healthcare and family unity comports with its obligations under those relevant international human rights treaties which the USA has ratified or otherwise acceded to (i.e., the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and 1967 Protocol, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination). The theoretical framework for this article is the treaty effectiveness literature, which identifies those factors associated with treaty compliance by states parties. Some of the factors identified in that literature are present in the USA (e.g., strong democratic institutions and an active civil society that pressures the government to comply with its treaty obligations) but others are not (the USA has incorporated few human rights treaties into its domestic law). Thus, as the literature would predict, the USA falls short of its treaty obligations in some areas of refugee resettlement policy but meets it in others.

Regulatory Freedom and Control in the New ASEAN Regional Investment Treaties

The expanding universe of regional investment agreements of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) illustrates the difficulties of accepting host States’ expansive regulatory freedoms, while neglecting to design durable institutional controls for regionally-coordinated investment treaty compliance and regionally-harmonized investment treaty interpretation. Since its transformation from a loose economic cooperation into a rules-based organization discharging binding executive-legislative functions under its 2008 Charter, ASEAN has already entered into regional investment treaties applicable within the ten ASEAN Member States (2009), as well as with China (2010), India (2014), Australia and New Zealand (2009), Korea (2009), and Japan (2008). Negotiations are pending with the United States, the European Union, and Canada. Institutional deficits in the monitoring and implementation of ASEAN regional investment treaties could be addressed by strengthening the mandate and capacity of the ASEAN Investment Area (AIA) Council. An intergovernmental centralized appellate mechanism could help facilitate harmonized interpretation of these regional treaties.

Nitrous oxide emissions from grazing cattle urine patches: Bridging the gap between measurement and stakeholder requirements

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas and a precursor to compounds which deplete stratospheric ozone. Agricultural soils are the principal anthropogenic N2O source, which includes urine patches of cattle fed by grazing pasture. While such N2O emissions can be measured, involved time and space scales are usually only minutes and metres, respectively. Nevertheless, climate change stakeholders need large-scale national emissions over time to construct annual N2O emissions inventories for international treaty compliance requirements. We have developed a mathematical model to bridge the gap between measurement and stakeholder requirements for N2O emissions from grazing cattle urine patches.Our methodology begins with the emissions from a patch. Convolution integrals are then used to spatially and temporally scale the emissions from discrete grazing events to paddock, farm and region levels across the year. The model developed shows how the emissions are smoothed out with scaling and the implications from the scaling.

Socio-Political Determinants of the Death Penalty and Australia's Foreign Policy

With a grounding in the previous transnational academic studies on the death penalty and with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region, in this submission I argue that the Australian government ought to devote more of its soft-power resources to promoting pro-democracy reforms, regional human rights institutions, treaty compliance, minimising corruption and maximising the economic development of Australia’s neighbours, all in order to indirectly promote moves away from capital punishment. Moreover, Australia ought not to act alone but to share the lead on these issues with those abolitionist jurisdictions neighbouring retentionist ones in the Asia-Pacific, due to the death penalty’s noticeable regional ‘contagion’ effects.

Consideration of impact of atmospheric intrusion in subsurface sampling for investigation of suspected underground nuclear explosions

Radioactive noble gases radioxenon and radioargon constitute the primary smoking gun of an underground nuclear explosion. The aim of subsurface sampling of soil gas as part of an on-site inspection (OSI) is to search for evidence of a suspected underground nuclear event. It has been hypothesized that atmospheric gas can disturb soil gas concentrations and therefore potentially add to problems in civilian source discrimination verifying treaty compliance under the comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty. This work describes a study of intrusion of atmospheric air into the subsurface and its potential impact on an OSI using results of simulations from the underground transport of environmental xenon (UTEX) model.