The Role of the Practices of the International and Regional Human Rights Treaty Bodies in the Development and Codification of the Rules of International Law – The Reservation to Treaties as a Model

Abstract

Although the rules contained in the three Vienna Conventions of 1969, 1978, and 1986 still constitute the framework for practice in the field of reservation to treaties, the development of the international community and with it the international system for the protection of human rights revealed a lack of clarity and some gaps in the Vienna regime of reservation which cannot be overlooked. Based on this, the European Court of Human Rights took the initiative and provided solutions to the practical difficulties imposed by previous conventions as well as developed new practices. Despite the opposition of several actors states to some of these practices, the great support given to the European monitoring bodies by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the United Nations human rights treaty bodies, in addition to the clarifications provided by the Human Rights Committee (HRC) concerning ‘severability’ theory to the International Law Commission (ILC), led to established practices of these bodies being codified. Codification took the form of guidelines in the ‘Guide to Practice on Reservations to Treaties’ which was adopted at the 63rd session of the ILC in 2011 after extensive study and debates, lasting nearly two decades, between members of the International Law Commission and within the Sixth Committee of the General Assembly.