Sixth Committee (Legal) — 76th session
Strengthening and promoting the international treaty framework (Agenda item 88)
- Authority:
Documentation
- — Report of the Secretary-General "Review of the regulations to give effect to Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations"
- — Draft resolution
Summary of work
Background (source: )
At its seventieth session, under the agenda item entitled “The rule of law at the national and international levels”, the General Assembly invited the Secretary-General to review the regulations giving effect to Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations and to submit the result of that review to the Sixth Committee for consideration (resolution ). Accordingly, the Secretary-General presented the review in his report on strengthening and coordinating United Nations rule of law activities ().
At its seventy-first session, the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to further elaborate on a review of the regulations giving effect to Article 102 of the Charter, taking into account recent developments, and to prepare a report on the registration and publication of treaties and international agreements pursuant to Article 102 of the Charter, to be submitted well in advance of the seventy-second session of the General Assembly (resolution ).
At its seventy-second session, the Assembly took note of the report of the Secretary-General entitled “Review of the regulations to give effect to Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations” () and stressed that the regulations should be useful and relevant to Member States (resolution ).
In a letter dated 7 June 2018 addressed to the Secretary-General (), the Permanent Representatives of Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Italy and Singapore to the United Nations requested the inclusion of a new item entitled “Strengthening and promoting the international treaty framework” in the provisional agenda of the seventy-third session.
At its seventy-third session, the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to provide, at its seventy-fifth session, a report, following broad consultations with Member States, with information on practice and possible options to review the regulations, taking into account outstanding issues identified by Member States, and decided to include the item in the provisional agenda of its seventy-fifth session (resolution ).
At its seventy-fifth session, the Assembly allocated the item to the Sixth Committee, where statements in the debate were made by 29 delegations (see , and ). The Assembly decided to defer consideration of proposals to further amend the regulations to give effect to Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations to the seventy-sixth session of the Assembly (resolution ).
Consideration at the seventy-sixth session
The Sixth Committee considered the item at its 9th, 10th and 29th meetings on 15 October and 18 November 2021 (see , and ).
Statements were made by the representatives of Finland (on behalf of the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden)), Singapore (also on behalf of Argentina, Austria, Brazil and Italy), the Islamic Republic of Iran, Egypt, the Philippines, the Republic of Moldova, Colombia, Canada [in English] (also on behalf of Australia and New Zealand (CANZ)), Portugal, China, Cuba, the United States of America, Paraguay, El Salvador, Mexico, Chile, Switzerland, Ethiopia, Peru, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Spain [in English], Slovenia, Nigeria, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, France, the Republic of Korea, Solomon Islands, Equatorial Guinea, Ecuador, Zimbabwe, Turkey and Cameroon.
Delegations welcomed the Report of the Secretary-General entitled “Review of the regulations to give effect to Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations”, and exchanged views on the proposals therein for further amendments of the regulations.
Delegations highlighted the importance of the agenda item, underlining that it was aimed at reaffirming, promoting and facilitating the registration and publication of treaties and international agreements under Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations. The important work of the Treaty Section of the Office of Legal Affairs in assisting member States was also highlighted. Some delegations expressed their wish to keep this item on the agenda as a forum for discussing matters beyond the topic of treaty registration, such as current shortcomings in treaty registration and to developments in treaty-making practice. It was noted that in the two sessions in which this item has been on the agenda, this Committee’s work has produced substantive, practical and tangible results.
Delegations recalled the amendments of the regulations adopted in 2018. It was further recalled that the obligation to register treaties had not yet been met with universal compliance and the extent of treaty registrations appeared to be geographically imbalanced. In that regard, delegations noted that the expanded use of technology could serve to promote access and universal participation in the registration of treaties.
Delegations emphasized the importance of multilingualism as a core value of the Organization. Some delegations indicated proposals to the regulations to give effect to Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations with a view to addressing the backlog in the publication of the United Nations Treaty Series and increasing availability of treaties, including in all official languages. Delegations also noted that, in addressing the various challenges to registration of treaties, it would be important to consider additional measures such capacity-building and technical assistance.
Archived videos and summaries of plenary meetings
(15 October 2021, 10:00am – 1:00pm) | Summary
(15 October 2021, 3:00pm – 6:00pm) | Summary
(18 November 2021, 10:00am – 1:00pm) | Summary
Action taken by the Sixth Committee
At the 29th meeting, on 18 November 2021, the representative of Brazil, on behalf of the Bureau, introduced a draft resolution entitled “Strengthening and promoting the international treaty framework” (). At the same meeting, the Committee adopted draft resolution without a vote.
The representative of Colombia (on behalf of the Group of Friends of Spanish (Argentina, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Uruguay, and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela)) spoke in explanation of position after the adoption of the draft resolution.
Under the draft resolution, the General Assembly would, inter alia, recall Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations and reaffirm the importance of the registration and publication of treaties, as well as their accessibility. The Assembly would amend the Regulations to give effect to Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations, as specified in the Annex to the draft resolution. The resolution would also reaffirm that multilingualism is a core value of the Organization, and reiterate its encouragement to the Secretary-General to develop, in consultation with and on the basis of feedback from Member States and within existing resources, an online treaty registration system to facilitate submissions of treaties for registration, as an additional option to the existing ways of submission in electronic or hard-copy format. Furthermore, the Assembly would once again welcome efforts to build the capacity of States in treaty law and practice, and invite States and interested organizations and institutions to make voluntary contributions towards the financing of workshops on treaty law and practice at the national and regional levels. The Assembly would also welcome the efforts made to develop and enhance the United Nations electronic treaty database; recognize the importance of the legal publications prepared by the Treaty Section of the Office of Legal Affairs; and call upon the Secretary-General to ensure the expedited publication of the United Nations Treaty Series. Finally, the Assembly would decide to undertake a thematic debate in the Sixth Committee to foster a technical exchange of views on practice relating to the strengthening and promoting of the international treaty framework, and invite Member States to focus their comments during the debate at the seventy-eighth session of the General Assembly, on the subtopic “Best practices of depositaries of multilateral treaties”.
Subsequent action taken by the General Assembly
- Report of the Sixth Committee:
- GA resolution:
This agenda item will be considered at the seventy-eighth session (2023).
