International Treaty Law - Conflicts

International Treaty Law - Conflicts

• Conflicts in international treaty law typically involve perceived inconsistencies or contradictions between the provisions of two or more treaties.
• This conflict arises when states are party to multiple treaties addressing the same or related issues, with provisions appearing incompatible or mutually exclusive.
• Conflicts can take various forms:
  • Normative conflict: Obligations or requirements in one treaty clash with those in another (contradictory rules, standards, or principles).
  • Temporal conflict: Different timeframes or effective dates for treaty provisions create a conflict (later-in-time rule often applies).
  • Substantive conflict: Discrepancies in the content or substance of treaty obligations make simultaneous compliance challenging.
  • Procedural conflict: Differences in mechanisms or procedures for dispute resolution, implementation, or other treaty-related processes.
• Conflicts are crucial for maintaining the coherence and effectiveness of the international legal system.
• Several principles and rules are applied to resolve treaty conflicts:
  • Principles of lex specialis (specific law prevails), lex posterior (later law overrides), and good faith interpretation.
  • Dispute-resolution mechanisms can be used to clarify treaty obligations.

Categories of Treaty Conflicts

• Conflicts are broadly categorized:
  • Conflicts between bilateral treaties: States are parties to multiple bilateral treaties, and obligations to different partners are incompatible.
  • Increasing membership conflicts: As more states join, existing bilateral treaties may clash with multilateral ones.
  • Decreasing membership conflicts: As membership in treaties shrinks, some bilateral treaties might conflict with those remaining.

Solutions to Treaty Conflicts

• The best solution is to prevent such conflicts during treaty drafting.
• Solutions include:
  • Drafting techniques: Thoughtful wording prevents potential conflicts.
  • Applying general principles of law: Using appropriate legal principles helps resolve conflicts.
  • Treaty interpretation: Interpreting treaties consistently helps ensure compatibility.
  • Codified rules (e.g., VCLT): Codified rules within international law like the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) help settle conflicts.

Solutions by Express Conventional Norms

• Treaties may explicitly address conflicts with other treaties (e.g., primacy or subordination)
• Article 103 of the UN Charter is an example where obligations under the Charter take precedence over conflicting international agreements
• Similar examples of subordination clauses can be found in Article 21 of the League of Nations Covenant.

Solution in Case of Treaty Silence

• If a treaty doesn't address potential conflicts, residual rules from the VCLT apply.
• These rules often comprise a complex balance among principles, including:
  • Pacta sunt servanda (agreements must be kept)
  • Pacta tertiis nec nocent nec prosunt (agreements do not harm or benefit third parties)
  • Lex posterior derogat legi priori (later law overrides earlier law)
• The application of these rules depends on specifics, like whether the parties to successive treaties are the same; different parties require consideration of pacta tertiis.

Conflicts Between Treaty Norms and Customary Norms

• Treaty norms and customary norms can conflict.
• Treaty norms: Agreed rules in formal written treaties.
• Customary norms: Unwritten rules arising from state practice, widely followed and recognized as legally binding.
• Conflicts arise when treaty obligations are perceived as conflicting with established customary international law.
• There isn't a universal hierarchy in general international law.
• The lex specialis principle: more specific or detailed treaty norms usually prevail over general customary norms.

Objective and Subjective Theories of Treaty Norms

• Objective theory: if a later treaty contradicts an earlier one, the later treaty is considered void.
• Subjective theory: both treaties are valid, and the obligated state chooses which one to apply. This choice leads to international responsibility, potentially requiring damages.

Conclusion

• Treaty conflicts are a complex issue in international law.
• Addressing them involves understanding nuances in treaty drafting, interpretation, and applying relevant rules (like from the VCLT)
• Solutions must consider various principles.