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⚖️ Treaty Invalidity: Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties VCLT visuazlied in animated explainer video 180 seconds | Lex Animata by Hesham Elrafei

Discover how and when a treaty is invalid under the rules of the VCLT
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#internationallaw #Law #explainer


Subtitled in French
Convention de Vienne sur le droit des traités : nullité des traités.

Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties: Invalidity of treaties.

Treaties are one of the sources of international law, and they are used by countries to regulate their international relations.
The law of treaties is based on the principle that agreements must be respected.

However, The Vienna Convention lists factors that may invalidate and terminate a treaty, and they are divided into Relative and Absolute grounds.

Relative grounds include: Error, Fraud, and Lack of authority.
While Absolute grounds cover: Coercion, Corruption, and jus cogens violation.

Let's have a look.

An error in the conclusion of a treaty, can nullify the state's consent, if that mistake relates to a fact assumed by the state to exist, and formed an essential basis of its approval, to be bound by the treaty.

However, if the state knew or contributed to that error, it cannot invoke that ground to free itself from observing the treaty.

In a territorial dispute between Thailand and Cambodia over the Preah Vihear Temple, the International Court of Justice rejected Thailand’s argument, that a particular map contained an error, and therefore it was not bound to observe it.

The court held that ‘the plea of error, cannot be allowed as an element of vitiating consent, if the country contributed to the error.

Fraud or Corruption is the second ground to invalidate a treaty.
Here a state consents to be bound by a treaty, is a result of fraud or bribery conducted by another state.

Coercion is another ground that a state may invoke to nullify a treaty, where it was forced to sign the agreement under military pressure or use of force.

The Lack of authority is the fourth ground of invalidity, where negotiators act outside their instructions, or violate national treaty-making rules.

In the dispute between Nigeria and Cameron, The International Court rejected Nigeria's argument, that the treaty between the two States was invalid because it violated Nigeria’s national law.

The court noted that the Nigerian president signed the treaty, and therefore any limitation of his capacity would not be ‘manifest’ unless at least publicized.

Another factor invalidating a treaty, is the breach of a peremptory norm. While the other grounds concern a problem with how the treaty was concluded, the jus cogens ground focuses on the treaty's subject matter.

Hence, a treaty concluded between two countries to commit genocide or torture will be void.

In all cases, The invalidity of a treaty renders it void and without legal force.

The difference is that relative grounds render a treaty voidable; therefore, the innocent State can affirm the treaty or to terminate it.
Whereas Absolute grounds automatically render the treaty void by law, as it has no legal effect from the time it was born.
While both grounds lead to the invalidation of bilateral treaties,
the existence of a relative ground in a multilateral treaty, affects only the State concerned, and not the other remaining parties.

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