Unfulfilled treaty obligations

A new international anarchy has arisen in recent years that defies international decisions on treaty provisions, specifically those initiated and/or made by the United Nations. This lack of adherence to a previously agreed upon decision-making body threatens to undermine security on both national and international levels.

In 1982, the Secretary-General of the UN stated that the UN Security Council often found itself unable to take decisive action to resolve international conflicts, and even its unanimous resolutions were "increasingly defied or ignored by those that feel themselves strong enough to do so". He observed that sterner measures for world peace were envisaged in the UN Charter, but that the prospect of realizing them now was virtually impossible, due to divisions within the international community.

Specific incidents of non-compliance include Lebanon and the Middle East crisis; the Iran-Iraq war; Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and American assistance to the resistance; Vietnamese invasion of Kampuchea; and the Cyprus situation.

In 1998, before a rebuke from its Foreign Affairs Minister, Belgium had not implemented 205 pieces of European legislation, a non-implementation rate of 8.5 percent. Only Italy had a worse record. One of the main reasons for the lengthy delays in making EU directives law is Belgium's complex federal structure.

1. Some reasons for the decline in strength of the UN Charter and Security Council lie within the UN itself: dangerous situations could perhaps be diffused before they reached the point of crisis if the Council kept an active watch on them by more systematic and less last-minute measures; the permanent members of the Security Council (China, France, UK, USA, USSR) should not allow their own bilateral difficulties to overshadow their commitment to the Council; the Council members should bear more collective influence when resolutions are not respected by those to whom they are addressed; the Council should devise wider and more systematic capacities for fact-finding in potential conflict areas and should be more responsive in sending good office missions, observers, or a UN presence, to such areas; and there should be explicit guarantees for collective or individual supportive action.

1. Lack of international cooperation
2. Inadequate marine services
3. Inadequate international law enforcement
4. Inaction on problems

1. Violation of treaties with indigenous populations
2. Non-recognition of international law
3. Limited observance of multilateral trade agreements
4. Lack of adherence to international transit conventions
5. Ineffectiveness of international commodity agreements
6. Illegal international arms shipments
7. Government non-payment of agreed financial contributions to international organizations
8. Failure of governments to fulfil international reporting obligations
9. Covert violation of international treaties
10. Cease-fire violations

1. Violation of neutrality
2. Secret armies
3. Overproduction of atmosphere-destabilizing gases
4. Offences against human security
5. International insecurity
6. International aggression
7. Ineffective international agreements
8. Illicit drug trafficking
9. Disagreement within alliances

1. Withdrawal from treaties
2. Unfairly negotiated treaties
3. Unbridled competition among states
4. Non-verifiability of compliance with nuclear arms treaties
5. Inadequate national supervision of adherence to international law
6. Government limitations
7. Government inaction

1. Unfulfilled contracts
2. State sanctioned torture
3. Refusal to ratify international conventions
4. Limited acceptance of international treaties
5. Breach of promise

1. Undermining governments abusing human rights
2. Uncovering covert violation of international treaties
3. Requiring adherence to law
4. Protecting rights
5. Monitoring international conventions
6. Making treaties
7. Fulfilling treaty obligations
8. Exposing violation of international export controls
9. Enforcing sanctions through secondary boycotts
10. Enforcing international law
11. Enforcing adherence to international treaties
12. Cooperating in eliminating human rights violations
13. Breaching international treaties
14. Adhering to international law
15. Acknowledging ratified treaties
16. Abiding by international export controls

1. Disregard
2. Abuse
3. Unfulfilment
4. Breach
5. Nonfulfilment
6. Transgression
7. Violation
8. Nonimplementation