1.
Czechoslovakia
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From 1939 to 1945, following its forced division and partial incorporation into Nazi Germany, the state did not de facto exist but its government-in-exile continued to operate. From 1948 to 1990, Czechoslovakia was part of the Soviet bloc with a command economy and its economic status was formalized in membership of Comecon from 1949, and its defense status in the Warsaw Pact of May 1955. A period of liberalization in 1968, known as the Prague Spring, was forcibly ended when the Soviet Union, assisted by several other Warsaw Pact countries. In 1993, Czechoslovakia split into the two states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Form of state 1918–1938, A democratic republic, 1938–1939, After annexation of Sudetenland by Nazi Germany in 1938, the region gradually turned into a state with loosened connections among the Czech, Slovak, and Ruthenian parts. A large strip of southern Slovakia and Carpatho-Ukraine was annexed by Hungary, 1939–1945, The region was split into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the Slovak Republic. A government-in-exile continued to exist in London, supported by the United Kingdom, United States and its Allies, after the German invasion of Russia, Czechoslovakia adhered to the Declaration by United Nations and was a founding member of the United Nations. 1946–1948, The country was governed by a government with communist ministers, including the prime minister. Carpathian Ruthenia was ceded to the Soviet Union, 1948–1989, The country became a socialist state under Soviet domination with a centrally planned economy. In 1960, the country became a socialist republic, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It was a state of the Soviet Union. 1989–1990, The federal republic consisted of the Czech Socialist Republic, 1990–1992, Following the Velvet Revolution, the state was renamed the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, consisting of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. Neighbours Austria 1918–1938, 1945–1992 Germany Hungary Poland Romania 1918–1938 Soviet Union 1945–1991 Ukraine 1991–1992 Topography The country was of irregular terrain. The western area was part of the north-central European uplands, the eastern region was composed of the northern reaches of the Carpathian Mountains and lands of the Danube River basin. Climate The weather is mild winters and mild summers, influenced by the Atlantic Ocean from the west, Baltic Sea from the north, and Mediterranean Sea from the south. The area was long a part of the Austro Hungarian Empire until the Empire collapsed at the end of World War I, the new state was founded by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who served as its first president from 14 November 1918 to 14 December 1935. He was succeeded by his ally, Edvard Beneš. The roots of Czech nationalism go back to the 19th century, nationalism became a mass movement in the last half of the 19th century
2.
Czech Republic
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The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, is a nation state in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast. The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometres with mostly temperate continental climate and it is a unitary parliamentary republic, has 10.5 million inhabitants and the capital and largest city is Prague, with over 1.2 million residents. The Czech Republic includes the territories of Bohemia, Moravia. The Czech state was formed in the late 9th century as the Duchy of Bohemia under the Great Moravian Empire, after the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power transferred from Moravia to Bohemia under the Přemyslid dynasty. In 1002, the duchy was formally recognized as part of the Holy Roman Empire, becoming the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198 and reaching its greatest territorial extent in the 14th century. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the whole Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy alongside the Archduchy of Austria, the Protestant Bohemian Revolt against the Catholic Habsburgs led to the Thirty Years War. After the Battle of the White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule, reimposed Roman Catholicism, the Czech part of Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany in World War II, and was liberated in 1945 by the armies of the Soviet Union and the United States. The Czech country lost the majority of its German-speaking inhabitants after they were expelled following the war, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won the 1946 elections. Following the 1948 coup détat, Czechoslovakia became a one-party communist state under Soviet influence, in 1968, increasing dissatisfaction with the regime culminated in a reform movement known as the Prague Spring, which ended in a Soviet-led invasion. Czechoslovakia remained occupied until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed, on 6 March 1990, the Czech Socialistic Republic was renamed to the Czech Republic. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004, it is a member of the United Nations, the OECD, the OSCE, and it is a developed country with an advanced, high income economy and high living standards. The UNDP ranks the country 14th in inequality-adjusted human development, the Czech Republic also ranks as the 6th most peaceful country, while achieving strong performance in democratic governance. It has the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union, the traditional English name Bohemia derives from Latin Boiohaemum, which means home of the Boii. The current name comes from the endonym Čech, spelled Cžech until the reform in 1842. The name comes from the Slavic tribe and, according to legend, their leader Čech, the etymology of the word Čech can be traced back to the Proto-Slavic root *čel-, meaning member of the people, kinsman, thus making it cognate to the Czech word člověk. The country has traditionally divided into three lands, namely Bohemia in the west, Moravia in the southeast, and Czech Silesia in the northeast. Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992, the Czech part of the former nation found itself without a common single-word geographical name in English, the name Czechia /ˈtʃɛkiə/ was recommended by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs
3.
ADR (treaty)
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ADR is a 1957 United Nations treaty that governs transnational transport of hazardous materials. ADR is derived from the French name for the treaty, Accord européen relatif au transport international des marchandises Dangereuses par Route), concluded in Geneva on 30 September 1957 under the aegis of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, it entered into force on 29 January 1968. The agreement was modified in New York City on 21 August 1975, a new amended ADR2011 entered into force on 1 January 2011. Annexes A and B have been amended and updated since the entry into force of ADR. Consequently, to the amendments for entry into force on 1 January 2015, as of 2016,49 states are party to ADR. The agreement itself is brief and simple, and its most important article is article 2 and it is not usually possible to deduce the hazard class of a substance from its UN number, they have to be looked up in a table. An exception to this are Class 1 substances whose UN number will always begin with a 0
4.
Tachograph
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A tachograph is a device fitted to a vehicle that automatically records its speed and distance, together with the drivers activity selected from a choice of modes. The drive mode is activated automatically when the vehicle is in motion, the rest and availability modes can be manually selected by the driver whilst stationary. A tachograph system comprises a sender unit mounted to the gearbox, the tachograph head. Tachograph heads are of either analogue or digital types, all relevant vehicles manufactured in the EU since 1 May 2006 must be fitted with digital tachograph heads. Digital driver cards store data in a format that can also be read out as a. ddd file. These files - both those read from memory with a download device, and those read from the driver cards - can be imported into tachograph analysis/archival software. They are also used in the world, for example through the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine. The tachograph was originally introduced for the railroads so that companies could better document irregularities, the inventor was Max Maria von Weber, a civil servant, engineer and author. The Daniel Tachometer is known in railways since 1844, the Hasler Event recorder was introduced in the 1920s. For reasons of safety, many jurisdictions have limits on the working hours of drivers of certain vehicles, such as buses. A tachograph can be used to monitor this and ensure that appropriate breaks are taken, the Verkehrs-Sicherungs-Gesetz of 19 December 1952, made tachographs mandatory in Germany for all commercial vehicles weighing over 7.5 tonnes. Since 23 March and 23 December 1953, all new vehicles and buses must be equipped with the device per law Straßenverkehrs-Zulassungs-Ordnung § 57a. Tachographs are mandatory for vehicles allowed to carry a weight of over 3.5 tonnes and vehicles built to carry at least 9 passengers. They are used to review the driving and rest time of drivers during reviews by traffic standards organizations or accident investigation, a driver must carry the tachograph records with him for all days of the current week and the last day of the previous week that he drove. Companies must keep the records for 1 year, in Germany, §16 of the work time regulations lengthens this time to 2 years if the records will be used as proof of work time. EEC regulation 3821/85 from 20 December 1985 made tachographs mandatory throughout the EEC as of 29 September 1986, a European arrangement in regard to the work of driving personnel engaged in international traffic became effective on 31 July 1985. Regulation 561/2006/EC of the European Union adopted on 11 April 2007 specified the driving and these time periods can be checked by the employers, police and other authorities with the help of the tachograph. Most tachographs produced prior to 1 May 2006 were of the analogue type, later analogue tachograph head models are of a modular design, enabling the head to fit into a standard DIN slot in the vehicle dashboard
5.
Antarctic Treaty System
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For the purposes of the treaty system, Antarctica is defined as all of the land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude. The treaty was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War, the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat headquarters have been located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, since September 2004. The main treaty was opened for signature on December 1,1959, the original signatories were the 12 countries active in Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year of 1957–58. These countries had established over 50 Antarctic stations for the IGY, the treaty was a diplomatic expression of the operational and scientific cooperation that had been achieved on the ice. Pursuant to Article 1, the treaty forbids any measures of a military nature and it prohibits all activities relating to mineral resources except scientific. A sixth annex on liability arising from environmental emergencies was adopted in 2005, the Antarctic Treaty Systems yearly Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings are the international forum for the administration and management of the region. Only 29 of the 53 parties to the agreements have the right to participate in decision-making at these meetings, as of 2015, there are 53 states party to the treaty,29 of which, including all 12 original signatories to the treaty, have consultative status. Consultative members include the seven nations that claim portions of Antarctica as national territory, the 46 non-claimant nations either do not recognize the claims of others, or have not stated their positions. Note, The table can be sorted alphabetically or chronologically using the icon, ** Reserved the right to claim areas. The Antarctic Treaty Secretariat was established in Buenos Aires, Argentina in September 2004 by the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, jan Huber served as the first Executive Secretary for five years until August 31,2009. He was succeeded on September 1,2009, by Manfred Reinke, facilitating the exchange of information between the Parties required in the Treaty and the Environment Protocol. Collecting, storing, arranging and publishing the documents of the ATCM, providing and disseminating public information about the Antarctic Treaty system and Antarctic activities. Antarctica currently has no permanent population and therefore it has no citizenship nor government, all personnel present on Antarctica at any time are citizens or nationals of some sovereignty outside Antarctica, as there is no Antarctic sovereignty. The majority of Antarctica is claimed by one or more countries, the area on the mainland between 90 degrees west and 150 degrees west is the only major land on Earth not claimed by any country. Until 2015 the interior of the Norwegian Sector, the extent of which had never officially defined, was considered to be unclaimed. That year, Norway formally laid claim to the area between its Queen Maud Land and the South Pole, governments that are party to the Antarctic Treaty and its Protocol on Environmental Protection implement the articles of these agreements, and decisions taken under them, through national laws. The Antarctic Treaty is often considered to represent an example of the heritage of mankind principle. According to Argentine regulations, any crime committed within 50 kilometers of any Argentine base is to be judged in Ushuaia, in the part of Argentine Antarctica that is also claimed by Chile and UK, the person to be judged can ask to be transferred there
6.
Crime of apartheid
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On November 30,1973, the United Nations General Assembly opened for signature and ratification the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid. The term apartheid, from Afrikaans for apartness, was the name of the South African system of racial segregation which existed after 1948. Complaints about the system were brought to the United Nations as early as 12 July 1948 when Dr, in 1971, the USSR and Guinea together submitted early drafts of a convention to deal with the suppression and punishment of apartheid. In 1973, the General Assembly of the United Nations agreed on the text of the International Convention on the Suppression, the Convention has 31 signatories and 107 parties. The convention came into force in 1976 after 20 countries had ratified it, as such, apartheid was declared to be a crime against humanity, with a scope that went far beyond South Africa. While the crime of apartheid is most often associated with the racist policies of South Africa after 1948, the term more generally refers to racially based policies in any state. In explanation of the US vote against the convention, Ambassador Clarence Clyde Ferguson Jr. said, crimes against humanity are so grave in nature that they must be meticulously elaborated and strictly construed under existing international law. In 1977, Addition Protocol 1 to the Geneva Conventions designated apartheid as a breach of the Protocol. There are 169 parties to the Protocol, the International Criminal Court provides for individual criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity, including the crime of apartheid. The International Criminal Court came into being on 1 July 2002, many of the member states have provided their own national courts with universal jurisdiction over the same offenses and do not recognize any statute of limitations for crimes against humanity. As of July 2008,106 countries are parties. This definition does not make any difference between discrimination based on ethnicity and race, in part because the distinction between the two remains debatable among anthropologists. Similarly, in British law the phrase racial group means any group of people who are defined by reference to their race, colour, and suggested that the legal consequences of a prolonged occupation with features of colonialism and apartheid be put to the International Court of Justice. In 2010, Richard Falk, the next UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine concludes that this structure of apartheid that exists in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Makes the allegation increasingly credible despite the differences between the characteristics of South African apartheid and that of the Occupied Palestinian Territories regime. Nothing there comes close to the definition of apartheid under the 1998 Rome Statute, Goldstone noted that Arab citizens of Israel are allowed to vote, have political parties, and hold seats in the Knesset and other positions, including one on the Israeli Supreme Court. However the Goldstone Report does not contain any reference to charges of apartheid, with regard to associated issue of positive findings of Israeli war crimes in the report, Goldstone has argued for a redaction. Al-Jazeera News later reported, Rima Khalaf says she resigns after UN leaders forced her to withdraw a report accusing Israel of apartheid
7.
Apostille Convention
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It specifies the modalities through which a document issued in one of the signatory countries can be certified for legal purposes in all the other signatory states. Such a certification is called an apostille and it is an international certification comparable to a notarisation in domestic law, and normally supplements a local notarisation of the document. Apostilles are affixed by Competent Authorities designated by the government of a state which is party to the convention, a list of these authorities is maintained by the Hague Conference on Private International Law. Examples of designated authorities are embassies, ministries, courts or governments, for example, in the United States, the Secretary of State of each state and his or her deputies are usually competent authorities. In the United Kingdom, all apostilles are issued by the Foreign, to be eligible for an apostille, a document must first be issued or certified by an officer recognised by the authority that will issue the apostille. For example, in the US state of Vermont, the Secretary of State maintains specimen signatures of all notaries public, likewise, courts in the Netherlands are eligible of placing an apostille on all municipal civil status documents directly. In some cases, intermediate certifications may be required in the country in which the document originates before it will be eligible for an apostille, for example, in New York City, the Office of Vital Records is not directly recognised by the New York Secretary of State. As a consequence, the signature of the City Clerk must be certified by the County Clerk of New York County to make the birth certificate eligible for an apostille. In Japan all the documents are issued in Japanese language. In India the apostille certification can be obtained from the Ministry of External Affairs The apostille itself is a stamp or printed form consisting of 10 numbered standard fields. On the top is the text APOSTILLE, under which the text Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961 is placed and this title must be written in French for the Apostille to be valid. In the numbered fields the following information is added, Country and this public document has been signed by acting in the capacity of bears the seal/stamp of Certified at the. Signature The information can be placed on the document itself, or attached to the document as an allonge, a State that has not signed the Convention must specify how foreign legal documents can be certified for its use. Two countries may have a convention on the recognition of each others public documents. In practice this means the document must be certified twice before it can have effect in the receiving country. The convention has 112 parties and is in force for all members of the European Union, the most recent state to accede to the convention is Chile. In 2005 The Hague Conference surveyed its members and produced a report in December 2008 which expressed concerns about Diplomas. The possible abuse of the system was highlighted Particularly troubling is the use of diploma mill qualifications to circumvent migration controls
8.
Arms Trade Treaty
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The Arms Trade Treaty is a multilateral treaty that regulates the international trade in conventional weapons. It entered into force on 24 December 2014, ninety-one states have ratified the treaty, and a further 42 states have signed but not ratified it. The treaty was negotiated in New York City at a conference under the auspices of the United Nations from 2–27 July 2012. As it was not possible to reach an agreement on a text at that time. On 2 April 2013, the UN General Assembly adopted the ATT, international weapons commerce has been estimated to reach US$70 billion a year. The ATT is part of a global effort begun in 1997 by Costa Rican President and 1987 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Óscar Arias. In that year, Arias led a group of Nobel Peace Prize laureates in a meeting in New York to offer the world a code of conduct for the trade in arms. The original idea was to establish standards for the arms trade that would eventually be adopted by the international community. Over the following 16 years, the Arias Foundation for Peace & Human Progress has played a role in achieving approval of the treaty. In 2001, the process continued with the adoption of a non-legally binding program of action at the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms. This program was called the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms. The ATT, like the PoA, is predicated upon a hypothesis that the trade in small arms is a large. 94 states submitted their views, which are contained in the 2007 report A/62/278, duncan was speaking on behalf of the co-authors. On behalf of the European Union, Finland highlighted the support for the effort, saying, everyday, everywhere,94 States submitted their views, which are contained in the 2007 report A/62/278. In December 2006,153 member states voted in favour of the resolution, the United States voted against the resolution. After the vote, Algeria indicated that the effort must receive broad-based support from states, the group met three times in 2008, and published a final report on the issue. Peace continues to be a step further away, nuclear and conventional weapons still exist despite the promises. It is up to us to ensure that in twenty years we do not awaken to the same terrors we suffer today, I am not ignorant of the fact that the biggest arms dealers in the world are represented here
9.
Basel Convention
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It does not, however, address the movement of radioactive waste. The Convention was opened for signature on 22 March 1989, as of November 2016,184 states and the European Union are parties to the Convention. Haiti and the United States have signed the Convention but not ratified it, with the tightening of environmental laws in developed nations in the 1970s, disposal costs for hazardous waste rose dramatically. At the same time, globalization of shipping made transboundary movement of more accessible. Consequently, the trade in hazardous waste, particularly to LDCs and it sailed for many months, changing its name several times. Unable to unload the cargo in any port, the crew was believed to have dumped much of it at sea and these practices have been deemed Toxic Colonialism by many developing countries. At its most recent meeting,27 November to 1 December 2006, the Conference of the parties of the Basel Agreement focused on issues of electronic waste, according to Maureen Walsh, only around 4% of hazardous wastes that come from OECD countries are actually shipped across international borders. These wastes include, among others, chemical waste, radioactive waste, municipal waste, asbestos, incinerator ash. Of internationally shipped waste that comes from developed countries, more than half is shipped for recovery, increased trade in recyclable materials has led to an increase in a market for used products such as computers. This market is valued in billions of dollars, at issue is the distinction when used computers stop being a commodity and become a waste. As of November 2016, there are 185 parties to the treaty, which includes 182 UN member states, the Cook Islands, the European Union, and the State of Palestine. The 11 UN member states that are not party to the treaty are Angola, East Timor, Fiji, Grenada, Haiti, San Marino, Solomon Islands, South Sudan, Tuvalu, United States, and Vanuatu. A waste falls under the scope of the Convention if it is within the category of wastes listed in Annex I of the Convention, in other words, it must both be listed and possess a characteristic such as being explosive, flammable, toxic, or corrosive. The definition of the disposal is made in Article 2 al 4 and just refers to annex IV. The examples of disposal are broad and include also recovery, recycling, radioactive waste that is covered under other international control systems and wastes from the normal operation of ships are not covered. Annex IX attempts to define commodities which are not considered wastes, in addition to conditions on the import and export of the above wastes, there are stringent requirements for notice, consent and tracking for movement of wastes across national boundaries. It is of note that the Convention places a prohibition on the exportation or importation of wastes between Parties and non-Parties. The exception to rule is where the waste is subject to another treaty that does not take away from the Basel Convention
10.
Berne Convention
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The Berne Convention formally mandated several aspects of modern copyright law, it introduced the concept that a copyright exists the moment a work is fixed, rather than requiring registration. It also enforces a requirement that countries recognize copyrights held by the citizens of all parties to the convention. The Berne Convention requires its parties to treat the copyright of works of authors from other parties to the convention at least as well as those of its own nationals. For example, French copyright law applies to anything published or performed in France, Copyright under the Berne Convention must be automatic, it is prohibited to require formal registration. However, when the United States joined the Convention 1 March 1989, it continued to make statutory damages and attorneys fees only available for registered works. Under Article 4, it applies to cinematic works by persons who have their headquarters or habitual residence in a party country. The Convention relies on the concept of country of origin, often determining the country of origin is straightforward, when a work is published in a party country and nowhere else, this is the country of origin. However, under Article 5, when a work is published simultaneously in several party countries, for works simultaneously published in a party country and one or more non-parties, the party country is the country of origin. For unpublished works or works first published in a non-party country, in the Internet age, unrestricted publication online may be considered publication in every sufficiently internet-connected jurisdiction in the world. It is not clear what this may mean for determining country of origin, however other U. S. courts in similar situations have reached different conclusions, e. g. Håkan Moberg v. 33T LLC. The matter of determining the country of origin for digital publication remains a topic of controversy among law academics as well, countries under the older revisions of the treaty may choose to provide their own protection terms, and certain types of works may be provided shorter terms. If the author is unknown, because for example the author was deliberately anonymous or worked under a pseudonym, however, if the identity of the author becomes known, the copyright term for known authors applies. e. An author is not entitled a longer copyright abroad than at home. This is commonly known as the rule of the shorter term, not all countries have accepted this rule. As to works, protection must include every production in the literary, scientific and artistic domain, the Berne Convention authorizes countries to allow fair uses of copyrighted works in other publications or broadcasts. Implementations of this part of the treaty fall into the categories of fair use. This language may mean that Internet service providers are not liable for the communications of their users. Critics claim that the convention does not mention any other rights of consumers of works except for fair use, there is a legal debate about whether the U. S
11.
Convention on Biological Diversity
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The Convention on Biological Diversity, known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty. In other words, its objective is to develop strategies for the conservation. It is often seen as the key document regarding sustainable development, the Convention was opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro on 5 June 1992 and entered into force on 29 December 1993. At the 2010 10th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in October in Nagoya, Japan, the notion of an international convention on biological diversity was conceived at a United Nations Environment Programme Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts on Biological Diversity in November 1988. In 1991, a negotiating committee was established, tasked with finalizing the conventions text. A Conference for the Adoption of the Agreed Text of the Convention on Biological Diversity was held in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1992, the Conventions text was opened for signature on 5 June 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. By its closing date,4 June 1993, the convention had received 168 signatures and it entered into force on 29 December 1993. The agreement covers all ecosystems, species, and genetic resources and it links traditional conservation efforts to the economic goal of using biological resources sustainably. It sets principles for the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources and it also covers the rapidly expanding field of biotechnology through its Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, addressing technology development and transfer, benefit-sharing and biosafety issues. Importantly, the Convention is legally binding, countries that join it are obliged to implement its provisions, the convention reminds decision-makers that natural resources are not infinite and sets out a philosophy of sustainable use. While past conservation efforts were aimed at protecting particular species and habitats, however, this should be done in a way and at a rate that does not lead to the long-term decline of biological diversity. The Convention acknowledges that substantial investments are required to conserve biological diversity and it argues, however, that conservation will bring us significant environmental, economic and social benefits in return. The Convention on Biological Diversity of 2010 banned some forms of geoengineering, some of the many issues dealt with under the convention include, Measures the incentives for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. Regulated access to resources and traditional knowledge, including Prior Informed Consent of the party providing resources. Access to and transfer of technology, including biotechnology, to the governments and/or local communities that provided traditional knowledge and/or biodiversity resources, coordination of a global directory of taxonomic expertise. National reporting on efforts to implement treaty commitments, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety of the Convention, also known as the Biosafety Protocol, was adopted in January 2000. The Biosafety Protocol seeks to protect biological diversity from the risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology. The Biosafety Protocol makes clear that products from new technologies must be based on the precautionary principle, the required number of 50 instruments of ratification/accession/approval/acceptance by countries was reached in May 2003
12.
Biological Weapons Convention
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The Convention was the result of prolonged efforts by the international community to establish a new instrument that would supplement the 1925 Geneva Protocol. The Geneva Protocol prohibits use but not possession or development of chemical and biological weapons and it commits the 178 states which are party to it as of December 2016 to prohibit the development, production, and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons. However, the absence of any formal verification regime to monitor compliance has limited the effectiveness of the Convention, an additional six states have signed the BWC but have yet to ratify the treaty. The scope of the BWCs prohibition is defined in Article 1 and this includes all microbial and other biological agents or toxins and their means of delivery. Subsequent Review Conferences have reaffirmed that the general purpose criterion encompasses all future scientific and it is not the objects themselves, but rather certain purposes for which they may be employed which are prohibited, similar to Art. II,1 in the Chemical Weapons Convention. Permitted purposes under the BWC are defined as prophylactic, protective, the objects may not be retained in quantities that have no justification or which are inconsistent with the permitted purposes. The United States Congress passed the Bioweapons Anti-Terrorism Act in 1989 to implement the Convention, the law applies the Conventions convent to countries and private citizens, and criminalizes violations of the Convention. Article I, Never under any circumstances to acquire or retain biological weapons, Article II, To destroy or divert to peaceful purposes biological weapons and associated resources prior to joining. Article III, Not to transfer, or in any way assist, Article IV, To take any national measures necessary to implement the provisions of the BWC domestically. Article V, To consult bilaterally and multilaterally to solve any problems with the implementation of the BWC, Article VI, To request the UN Security Council to investigate alleged breaches of the BWC and to comply with its subsequent decisions. Article VII, To assist States which have exposed to a danger as a result of a violation of the BWC. Article X, To do all of the above in a way that encourages the peaceful uses of biological science, the BWC has 178 States Parties as of November 2016, with Guinea the most recent to become a party. The Republic of China had deposited an instrument of ratification before the changeover of the United Nations seat to the Peoples Republic of China. Of the UN member states which are not a party to the treaty, six have signed, a long process of negotiation to add a verification mechanism began in the 1990s. Previously, at the second Review Conference of State Parties in 1986, the following Review Conference in 1991 established a group of government experts. Negotiations towards an internationally binding verification protocol to the BWC took place between 1995 and 2001 in a known as the Ad Hoc Group. On 25 July 2001, the Bush administration, after conducting a review of policy on biological weapons, States Parties have formally reviewed the operation of the BWC at quinquennial review conferences held in 1980,1986,1991,1996, 2001/02,2006,2011, and 2016. These additional understandings are contained in the Final Declarations of the Review Conferences, there has been an increase in the percentage of delegates from States Parties who have been women since the first review conference, with just 7 percent in 1980 to 26 percent in 2011
13.
Central European Free Trade Agreement
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The Central European Free Trade Agreement is a trade agreement between non-EU countries, members of which are now mostly located in Southeastern Europe. Once a participating country joins the European Union, its CEFTA membership ends, as of 1 July 2013, the parties of the CEFTA agreement are, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and the UNMIK on behalf of Kosovo. As of 1 July 2013, the parties of the CEFTA agreement are, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, former parties are Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Their CEFTA memberships ended when they became states of the European Union. It came into force in July 1994, the agreement was amended by the agreements signed on 11 September 1995 in Brno and on 4 July 2003 in Bled. Slovenia joined CEFTA in 1996, Romania in 1997, Bulgaria in 1999, Croatia in 2003, all of the parties of the original agreement had now joined the EU and thus left CEFTA. Accession of Ukraine has also been discussed, the new enlarged agreement was initialled on 9 November 2006 in Brussels and was signed on 19 December 2006 at the South East European Prime Ministers Summit in Bucharest. The aim of the agreement was to establish a trade zone in the region by 31 December 2010. After the declaration of independence of Kosovo on 17 February 2008 UNMIK continued to represent Kosovo at all CEFTA meetings, at the end of 2008 Kosovo changed its customs stamps replacing UNMIK with Kosovo. This resulted in a blockade from Serbia and Bosnia that do not recognise the Republic of Kosovo. The government in Pristina retaliated by imposing its own blockade on imports from Serbia and this led to clashes at border posts in July 2011. All former participating countries had previously signed association agreements with the EU, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia joined the EU on 1 May 2004, with Bulgaria and Romania following suit on 1 January 2007. Croatia joined the EU on 1 July 2013, Montenegro and Serbia have been undergoing EU accession talks since 2012 and 2013, whereas Albania and Macedonia are official candidate countries of the EU. At the EUs recommendation, the members prepared for membership by establishing free trade areas. A large proportion of CEFTA foreign trade is with EU countries
14.
Chemical Weapons Convention
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The Chemical Weapons Convention is an arms control treaty which outlaws the production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons and their precursors. The treaty entered force in 1997. The parties main obligation under the convention is to prohibit the use and production of chemical weapons, the destruction activities are verified by the OPCW. As of April 2016,192 states have given their consent to be bound by the CWC, israel has signed but not ratified the agreement, while three other UN member states have neither signed nor acceded to the treaty. Most recently, Angola deposited its instrument of accession to the CWC on 16 September 2015, as of October 2016, about 93% of the worlds declared stockpile of chemical weapons had been destroyed. On 3 September 1992 the Conference on Disarmament submitted to the U. N. General Assembly its annual report, the General Assembly approved the Convention on 30 November 1992, and the U. N. Secretary-General then opened the Convention for signature in Paris on 13 January 1993. The CWC remained open for signature until its entry into force on 29 April 1997,180 days after the deposit of the 65th instrument of ratification, the convention augments the Geneva Protocol of 1925 for chemical weapons and includes extensive verification measures such as on-site inspections. It does not, however, cover biological weapons, the convention is administered by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which acts as the legal platform for specification of the CWC provisions. The Conference of the States Parties is mandated to change the CWC, the Technical Secretariat of the organization conducts inspections to ensure compliance of member states. These inspections target destruction facilities, chemical production facilities which have been dismantled or converted for civil use. The Secretariat may furthermore conduct investigations of alleged use of chemical weapons, the classification is based on the quantities of the substance produced commercially for legitimate purposes. Each class is split into Part A, which are chemicals that can be used directly as weapons and this includes all such chemicals, regardless of their origin or of their method of production, and regardless of whether they are produced in facilities, in munitions or elsewhere. Schedule 1 chemicals have few, or no uses outside chemical weapons and these may be produced or used for research, medical, pharmaceutical or chemical weapon defence testing purposes but production above 100 grams per year must be declared to the OPCW. A country is limited to possessing a maximum of 1 tonne of these materials, examples are sulfur mustard and nerve agents, and substances which are solely used as precursor chemicals in their manufacture. A few of these chemicals have very small scale non-military applications, schedule 2 chemicals have legitimate small-scale applications. Manufacture must be declared and there are restrictions on export to countries which are not CWC signatories, an example is thiodiglycol which can be used in the manufacture of mustard agents, but is also used as a solvent in inks. Schedule 3 chemicals have large-scale uses apart from chemical weapons, plants which manufacture more than 30 tonnes per year must be declared and can be inspected, and there are restrictions on export to countries which are not CWC signatories. The treaty also deals with carbon compounds called in the treaty discrete organic chemicals and these are any carbon compounds apart from long chain polymers, oxides, sulfides and metal carbonates, such as organophosphates
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Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation
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The Convention establishes rules of airspace, aircraft registration and safety, and details the rights of the signatories in relation to air travel. The Convention also exempts air fuels in transit from taxation, the document was signed on December 7,1944 in Chicago by 52 signatory states. It received the requisite 26th ratification on March 5,1947 and went into effect on April 4,1947, in October of the same year, ICAO became a specialized agency of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The Convention has since been revised eight times, as of 2013, the Chicago Convention has 191 state parties, which includes all member states of the United Nations except Dominica, Liechtenstein, and Tuvalu as well as the Cook Islands. The convention has been extended to cover Liechtenstein by the ratification of Switzerland, some important articles are, Article 1, Every state has complete and exclusive sovereignty over airspace above its territory. Article 3 bis, Every other State must refrain from resorting to the use of weapons against civil aircraft in flight. Article 5, The aircraft of states, other than scheduled air services, have the right to make flights across states territories. However, the state may require the aircraft to make a landing, Article 6, No scheduled international air service may be operated over or into the territory of a contracting State, except with the special permission or other authorization of that State. Article 10, The state can require that landing to be at a customs airport. Article 16, The authorities of each state shall have the right to search the aircraft of states on landing or departure. Article 24, Aircraft flying to, from or across, the territory of a state shall be admitted free of duty. Fuel, Oil, spare parts, regular equipment and aircraft stores retained on board are also exempt custom duty, inspection fees or similar charges. Article 29, Before an international flight, the pilot in command must ensure that the aircraft is airworthy, duly registered, the radios may only be used by members of the flight crew suitably licensed by the state in which the aircraft is registered. Article 33, Certificates of Airworthiness, certificates of competency and licences issued or validated by the state in which the aircraft is registered, shall be recognised as valid by other states. The requirements for issue of those Certificates or Airworthiness, certificates of competency or licences must be equal to or above the standards established by the Convention. Article 40, No aircraft or personnel with endorsed licenses or certificate will engage in international navigation except with the permission of the state or states whose territory is entered, the Convention is supported by nineteen annexes containing standards and recommended practices. The annexes are amended regularly by ICAO and are as follows, Annex 1 – Personnel Licensing Licensing of flight crews, including Chapter 6 containing medical standards. Taxation of Aviation Fuel Paul Michael Krämer, Chicago Convention, 50th Anniversary Conference, Chicago, zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht 1995, S.57
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Convention on the Rights of the Child
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The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Convention defines a child as any human being under the age of eighteen, Nations that ratify this convention are bound to it by international law. Compliance is monitored by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and their reports and the committees written views and concerns are available on the committees website. The UN General Assembly adopted the Convention and opened it for signature on 20 November 1989 and it came into force on 2 September 1990, after it was ratified by the required number of nations. Currently,196 countries are party to it, including member of the United Nations except the United States. Two optional protocols were adopted on 25 May 2000, the First Optional Protocol restricts the involvement of children in military conflicts, and the Second Optional Protocol prohibits the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Both protocols have been ratified by more than 160 states, a third optional protocol relating to communication of complaints was adopted in December 2011 and opened for signature on 28 February 2012. It came into effect on 14 April 2014, the Convention deals with the child-specific needs and rights. It requires that the nations that ratify this convention are bound to it by international law, ratifying states must act in the best interests of the child. The Convention obliges states to allow parents to exercise their parental responsibilities, the Convention forbids capital punishment for children. The European Court of Human Rights has referred to the Convention when interpreting the European Convention on Human Rights, global human rights standards were challenged at the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna when a number of governments raised serious objections to the idea of universal human rights. Some scholars link slavery and slavery-like practices for many child marriages, Child marriage as slavery is not directly addressed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Currently 196 countries are parties to the treaty and this includes every member of the United Nations, plus the Cook Islands, Niue, the State of Palestine, and the Holy See. The United States has not ratified it, somalias domestic ratification finished in January 2015 and the instrument was deposited with the United Nations in October 2015. All successor states of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia made declarations of succession to the treaty, the convention does not apply in the territories of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, Gibraltar, Guernsey and Tokelau. Canada became a signatory to the Convention on 28 May 1990, Youth criminal laws in Canada underwent major changes resulting in the Youth Criminal Justice Act which went into effect on 1 April 2003. The Act specifically references Canadas different commitments under the Convention, the convention was influential in the administrative Law decision of Baker v Canada. India ratified UNCRC on 11 December 1992, agreeing in principles all articles except with certain reservations on issues relating to child labor
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CITES
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CITES is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals. It was drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the convention was opened for signature in 1973 and CITES entered into force on 1 July 1975. In order to ensure that the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was not violated, as of 2015, Secretary-General of the CITES Secretariat is John E. Scanlon. CITES is one of the largest and oldest conservation and sustainable use agreements in existence, participation is voluntary, and countries that have agreed to be bound by the Convention are known as Parties. Although CITES is legally binding on the Parties, it does not take the place of national laws, rather it provides a framework respected by each Party, which must adopt their own domestic legislation to implement CITES at the national level. Often, domestic legislation is either non-existent, or with penalties with the gravity of the crime, funding for the activities of the Secretariat and Conference of the Parties meetings comes from a Trust Fund derived from Party contributions. Trust Fund money is not available to Parties to improve implementation or compliance and these activities, and all those outside Secretariat activities must find external funding, mostly from donor countries and regional organizations such as the European Union. The Secretariat, when informed of an infraction by a Party, the Secretariat will give the Party time to respond to the allegations and may provide technical assistance to prevent further infractions. Other actions the Convention itself does not provide for but that derive from subsequent COP resolutions may be taken against the offending Party, infractions may include negligence with respect to permit issuing, excessive trade, lax enforcement, and failing to produce annual reports. As of 2013 the demand was massive and had expanded to thousands of species previously considered unremarkable. The text of the Convention was finalized at a meeting of representatives of 80 countries in Washington, united States, on 3 March 1973. It was then open for signature until 31 December 1974 and it entered into force after the 10th ratification by a signatory country, on 1 July 1975. Countries that signed the Convention become Parties by ratifying, accepting or approving it, by the end of 2003, all signatory countries had become Parties. States that were not signatories may become Parties by acceding to the Convention, as of October 2016, the Convention has 183 parties, including 182 states and the European Union. The CITES Convention includes provisions and rules for trade with non-Parties, UN observer the Holy See is also not a member. The Faroe Islands, a country in the Kingdom of Denmark, is also treated as a non-Party to CITES. The REIO can vote at CITES meetings with the number of votes representing the number of members in the REIO, at that time it entered into force only for those States that had accepted the amendment. The amended text of the Convention will apply automatically to any State that becomes a Party after 29 November 2013, for States that became party to the Convention before that date and have not accepted the amendment, it will enter into force 60 days after they accept it
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