Travaux préparatoires

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The travaux préparatoires (French: "preparatory works", in the plural) are the official record of a negotiation. Sometimes published, the "travaux" are often useful in clarifying the intentions of a treaty or other instrument, as is reflected in Article 32 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT).

French language Romance language

French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) has largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.

The plural, in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. Plural of nouns typically denote a quantity other than the default quantity represented by a noun, which is generally one. Most commonly, therefore, plurals are used to denote two or more of something, although they may also denote more than fractional, zero or negative amounts. An example of a plural is the English word cats, which corresponds to the singular cat.

Negotiation dialogue between two or more people or parties intended to reach a beneficial outcome

Negotiation comes from the Latin neg (no) and otsia (leisure) referring to businessmen who, unlike the patricians, had no leisure time in their industriousness; it held the meaning of business until the 17th century when it took on the diplomatic connotation as a dialogue between two or more people or parties intended to reach a beneficial outcome over one or more issues where a conflict exists with respect to at least one of these issues. Thus, negotiation is a process of combining divergent positions into a joint agreement under a decision rule of unanimity.

To interpret treaties, the VCLT places this form of interpretation as secondary to the ordinary meaning (see Articles 31 and 32).

In the Sigurjonsson v. Iceland case the Court noted that the use of the travaux préparatoires in the earlier Young James and Wester case was not decisive but merely provided a working hypothesis. The preparatory work was legitimately invoked by the Commission to show that the provision that "Every shall be free to leave any country, including his own", does not entitle a convicted prisoner to leave the country in which he is lawfully detained. [1]

An example of such interpretation was provided by Lord Diplock in the case Fothergill v Monarch Airlines Ltd [1981] [2]

The travaux préparatoires are often available to the public on websites created for a specific treaty (such as the Rome Statute) or on the United Nations website.

United Nations Intergovernmental organization

The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization that was tasked to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international co-operation and be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations. The headquarters of the UN is in Manhattan, New York City, and is subject to extraterritoriality. Further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states. Its objectives include maintaining international peace and security, protecting human rights, delivering humanitarian aid, promoting sustainable development and upholding international law. The UN is the largest, most familiar, most internationally represented and most powerful intergovernmental organization in the world. In 24 October 1945, at the end of World War II, the organization was established with the aim of preventing future wars. At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are now 193. The UN is the successor of the ineffective League of Nations.

The most well-known travaux are associated with the drafting of the Genocide Convention. [3]

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948 as General Assembly Resolution 260. The Convention entered into force on 12 January 1951. It defines genocide in legal terms, and is the culmination of years of campaigning by lawyer Raphael Lemkin. All participating countries are advised to prevent and punish actions of genocide in war and in peacetime. As of December 2017, 149 states have ratified or acceded to the treaty, most recently Benin on 2 November 2017. One state, the Dominican Republic, has signed but not ratified the treaty.

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Paul Weis was an Austrian lawyer and survivor of the persecution by the Nazis. He is dubbed to be the "founding father of the protection".

References

  1. ↑ Clare Ovey and Robin C.A.White (2002). Jacobs and White: European Convention on Human Rights. Oxford University Press. pp. 29–30. ISBN   0-19-876-5800.
  2. ↑ HL. AC 251 (1981). "Law report".
  3. ↑ "The Genocide Convention: The Travaux Préparatoires (2 vols) | Brill". www.brill.com. Retrieved 2016-11-04.
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