Dag Hammarskjöld Library at Uppsala University
Conventions and Declarations
- © United Nations
Striving to uphold the principles set forth in the Charter, the United Nations has adopted numerous declarations and resolutions.
Declarations are not legally binding and do not have the same legal force as international treaties, but they may have some legal weight. A UN declaration does, however, carry considerable moral force and serves as a clear indication of the commitments of the international community. Many declarations articulate perceived principles of international law, thus constituting a basis for legally binding instruments.
Conventions are binding formal agreements. When a convention is ratified in sufficient numbers, it enters into force and becomes legally binding on the states that have ratified and signed it.
- To sign - indicates the preparations for ratification.
- To ratify - confirms an agreement to be legally bound by the convention, with legislative changes taking place within a member state to adhere to the agreement at the domestic level. The process between signing and ratification may take years, often a necessary time-frame for enacting legislation at the domestic level.
- To accede - a state accepts to become a party to a convention already negotiated and signed by other states.
Under Article 102 of the UN Charter all treaties entered into force by member states of the United Nations are registered and published by the UN Secretariat.
Documentation
As a result of the UN treaty making procedures there is an extensive collection of treaties published by the UN Secretariat since 1946: Treaty Series. Treaties and international agreements registered or filed and recorded with the Secretariat of the United Nations. The collection of 2,200 volumes contains over 158,000 treaties. The treaty collection in print can be accessed from the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, Uppsala, and the UN Libraries in New York and Geneva. An electronic version of the treaty collection is contained in the United Nations Treaty Collection On-line. See the section Databases and Indexes below.
All signatures and ratifications are updated annually and published in Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General. Status as at 31 December ... . For the most recent updates, see the United Nations Treaty Collection On-line, section Databases and Indexes below.
An explanatory Glossary of terms relating to Treaty actions has been published by the UN Office of Legal Affairs and is posted at the UN official web site.
A list of human rights conventions and declaration with links to full texts and ratification information is posted at the UN official web site, section Human Rights, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, International Law.
For further information on human rights conventions, see DagDok: section Human Rights Conventions and Declarations.
The so called Core Treaties - 25 treaties identified as the most central to the goals of the UN Charter - are posted at the UN official web site.
A list of full text Conventions, Declarations and Other Instruments Found in General Assembly Resolutions (1946 onwards) is posted at the UN official web site, section United Nations Documentation: Research Guide.
Databases and Indexes
United Nations Treaty Collection On-Line contains over 158,000 full text treaties and international agreements registered or filed and recorded with and published by the UN Secretariat since 1946. It is an electronic version of the UN Treaty Series. Treaties and international agreements registered or filed and recorded with the Secretariat of the United combined with Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General and League of Treaty Series (1920-1944), photographs and a Treaty Handbook. See: Overview.
Conventions and declarations can be retrieved from the UN Library online catalogue UNBISnet with links to full texts for recent years. Subject search can be performed using relevant terms from the UNBIS THESAURUS in combination with a search option for "type of material".
Printed Indexes