Research Article

Quest For The Harmony: On the Vienna Reservations Regime and International Human Rights Treaties

Number: 68 January 17, 2020
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Quest For The Harmony: On the Vienna Reservations Regime and International Human Rights Treaties

Abstract

The reservation is one of the most important and controversial topics in international treaty law. The validity of reservations and their application came to the fore and customary reservation rules were reviewed with the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in international law. Also, in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, rules on reservations were codified, which were asserted as the rules of customary international law. However, in human rights treaties, because of their distinctive characteristics, the rules of reservations needed to be applied and interpreted compatible to these particularities. First of all, human rights treaties are different from standard contractual treaties and they do not create a balanced system between the state parties’ rights and obligations. Therefore, the reciprocal effect of the reservation which gives equivalency to the parties’ rights and obligations cannot function properly in human rights treaties. The second aspect is the main ideal of ensuring the universality of human rights which challenges the integrity of these treaties. The choice between integrity and universality gives us a hint about the status of the treaties regarding reservations. Another issue is the compliance of a reservation with the object and purpose of the treaty which is rated among the main rules about validity of a reservation in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. In human rights treaties, a reservation’s compatibility with the object and purpose and even determining the object and purpose of the treaty is controversial. In this context two different mechanisms issuing from the Vienna Convention – opposability and permissibility- will be handled to determine the validity of the reservations in international human rights treaties. In this paper, within the scope of the human rights treaties’ aspects stated above, the application and the validity of the reservations to international human rights treaties will be discussed by assessing the solutions in the ILC’s Guide to Practice on Reservations.

Keywords

Supporting Institution

The author received no grant support for this work.

References

  1. Cases
  2. Reservations to the Convention of Genocide (Advisory Opinion) 1951 ˂ https://www.icj-cij.org/ files/case-related/12/012-19510528-ADV-01-00-EN.pdf ˃ accessed 25 September 2019 [21]. Austria v Italy App no 788/60 (EComHR Decision, 11 January 1961)
  3. The Effect of Reservations on the Entry into Force of the American Convention, Advisory Opinion OC-2/82, Inter-American Court of Human Rights (24 September 1982)
  4. Restrictions to the Death Penalty (Arts. 4(2) and 4(4) American Convention on Human Rights), Advisory Opinion OC-3/83, Inter-American Court of Human Rights (8 September 1983)
  5. Belilos v Switzerland App no 10328/83 (ECtHR, 29 April 1988); Loizidou v Turkey App no 15318/89 (ECtHR, 23 March 1995)
  6. United Nations Documents
  7. ILC, ‘First Report on the Law and Practice relating to Reservations to Treaties, by Mr. Alain Pellet, Special Rapporteur’ (30 May 1994) UN Doc A/CN.4/470
  8. ILC, ‘Second Report on Reservations to Treaties by Mr. Alain Pellet, Special Rapporteur’ (10 May13 June 1996) UN Doc A/CN.4/477&Corr.1&2 and Add.1&Corr.1-4

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Law in Context

Journal Section

Research Article

Publication Date

January 17, 2020

Submission Date

September 27, 2019

Acceptance Date

-

Published in Issue

Year 2019 Number: 68

APA
Kaya, G. (2020). Quest For The Harmony: On the Vienna Reservations Regime and International Human Rights Treaties. Annales de la Faculté de Droit D’Istanbul, 68, 47-68. https://doi.org/10.26650/annales.2019.68.0004
AMA
1.Kaya G. Quest For The Harmony: On the Vienna Reservations Regime and International Human Rights Treaties. Annales de la Faculté de Droit d’Istanbul. 2020;(68):47-68. doi:10.26650/annales.2019.68.0004
Chicago
Kaya, Gülsüm. 2020. “Quest For The Harmony: On the Vienna Reservations Regime and International Human Rights Treaties”. Annales de la Faculté de Droit D’Istanbul, nos. 68: 47-68. https://doi.org/10.26650/annales.2019.68.0004.
EndNote
Kaya G (January 1, 2020) Quest For The Harmony: On the Vienna Reservations Regime and International Human Rights Treaties. Annales de la Faculté de Droit d’Istanbul 68 47–68.
IEEE
[1]G. Kaya, “Quest For The Harmony: On the Vienna Reservations Regime and International Human Rights Treaties”, Annales de la Faculté de Droit d’Istanbul, no. 68, pp. 47–68, Jan. 2020, doi: 10.26650/annales.2019.68.0004.
ISNAD
Kaya, Gülsüm. “Quest For The Harmony: On the Vienna Reservations Regime and International Human Rights Treaties”. Annales de la Faculté de Droit d’Istanbul. 68 (January 1, 2020): 47-68. https://doi.org/10.26650/annales.2019.68.0004.
JAMA
1.Kaya G. Quest For The Harmony: On the Vienna Reservations Regime and International Human Rights Treaties. Annales de la Faculté de Droit d’Istanbul. 2020;:47–68.
MLA
Kaya, Gülsüm. “Quest For The Harmony: On the Vienna Reservations Regime and International Human Rights Treaties”. Annales de la Faculté de Droit D’Istanbul, no. 68, Jan. 2020, pp. 47-68, doi:10.26650/annales.2019.68.0004.
Vancouver
1.Gülsüm Kaya. Quest For The Harmony: On the Vienna Reservations Regime and International Human Rights Treaties. Annales de la Faculté de Droit d’Istanbul. 2020 Jan. 1;(68):47-68. doi:10.26650/annales.2019.68.0004