THE LEGAL EFFECT OF RESERVATION TO HUMAN RIGHTS TREATIES: LACUNAE LEFT OUT BY THE VCLT RESERVATION REGIME AND THE SUPPLEMENTATION OF ILC GUIDE TO PRACTICE ON RESERVATION
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Abstract
The Guide to Practice on Reservations to Treaties (ILC Guide) is the work of the International Law Commission (ILC) on reservation. In doing so, ILC attempted to put forward the Guide to be a supplementation to the lacunae left out by the VCLT reservation regime and to answer a number of arguments made by human rights bodies, courts and academics regarding the compatibility of reservation related to the special characteristics of human rights treaties.
This essay comprises five parts. In addressing the issues with the reservation to human rights treaties, and the work of the ILC and its Special Rapporteur Professor Pellet, the first part will provide a background to the topic. The second part will focus on the arguments raised in the debate of the characteristics of human rights treaties, the permissibility of reservation and the relationship with the reservation regime under the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT). The third part will provide specific examples and contemporary discussions on reservation allowed under the human rights treaties by way of approaches taken by the human rights bodies. It also will focus on the issue of the consequences of impermissible reservations. The fourth part will concern the ILC guidelines and reflect on their contribution to the development of international treaty law on human rights treaties. The fifth part will be the conclusion.
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