The Pre-negotiation of UN Human Rights Treaties: The Case of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Abstract

Abstract Since 1965, nine UN human rights treaties have been adopted. Surprisingly, we know little about the conditions under which states arrived at the negotiation table because there has been no serious attempt to empirically identify the unique attributes of pre-negotiation in this context. This article examines the pre-negotiation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons (CRPD), drawing on diverse qualitative data sources such as interviews with state and non-state participants. Informed by a constructivist perspective, this study identifies esteem-seeking behavior as a key motivation for some states to negotiate. The article also shows how a transnational advocacy network influenced the pre-negotiation process by leveraging states’ esteem-seeking ambitions and appealing to their reputation as a way of pushing parties to negotiate. Additional tactics that the transnational advocacy network employ at the international level to expedite negotiations are also identified.