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APPENDIX B

Internet websites relevant to treaties and treaty making

B1 THIS APPENDIX CONTAINS A LIST of internet website addresses that are relevant to treaty making and/or treaties generally. It includes addresses for less specifically “treaty” yet still useful sites, such as various United Nations websites.

B2 The Law Commission would like to make clear that this address list of relevant websites is intended only as a starting point resource.³⁰² It is not intended as an exhaustive guide to websites concerning treaties and treaty making. There are many more sites with treaty and international law materials which can be retrieved by searching for the relevant convention name, organisation name or subject matter, or even by law journal or law school.³⁰³ However, this sample of treaty sites may, in a small way, increase interest in the resources available on the internet and the potential for its further use.

B3 It may also serve to highlight the potential that exists in particular for the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) to expand its website (address noted below). Material that could be presented includes, for example, the specific treaties to which New Zealand is a party, the statutes which implement our international obligations, and the recent MFAT multilateral and bilateral treaty list publications. The material presented in the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) website (address noted below) provides an excellent example of how to make best use of the opportunities the medium offers.

New Zealand

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE

http://www.mft.govt.nz/

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE: NOTES ON MFAT’S WORK WITH TREATIES

http://www.mft.govt.nz/Guide/part6.html#6-4

Australia

AUSTRALIAN DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE, TREATIES LIBRARY

http://www.nzlii.org/au/other/dfat

This website provides the following information:

• Australian Treaty List (index and monthly updates);
• Australian Treaties Full Text Database;
• National Impact Statements (1996 & 1997);
• Select Documents on International Affairs;
• List of Multilateral Treaty Actions Under Negotiation (the list covers current treaties and those to be negotiated in the next 12 months and provides contact names and addresses in relevant departments for each treaty listed);
• Status Lists (of parties to the multilateral treaties for which Australia is the depositary);
• Trick or Treaty? Commonwealth Power to Make and Implement Treaties (the Australian Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee Report on treaty making);
• Australia and International Treaty Making Information Kit – June 1997 (a valuable 64 page kit that covers all aspects of treaty making in Australia including discussion of current developments and major treaties);
• United Nations General Assembly Resolution – Electronic Treaties Database (the text of the resolution adopted on 16 December 1996 concerning the importance of making the text of United Nations treaties available on a database);
• List of other sites relevant to Australian treaties (including the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, and Hansard Internet Publishing Service).

TRICK OR TREATY? COMMONWEALTH POWER TO MAKE AND IMPLEMENT TREATIES

http://senate.aph.gov.au/committee/legcon_ctte/4chapt12.html

The website contains the text of chapter 12 of the Trick or Treaty? report, “Consultation with Interested Groups”.

AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO THE RECOMMENDATIONS IN TRICK OR TREATY?

http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/law/govres.htm

AUSTRALIAN DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE: HUMAN RIGHTS MANUAL

http://www.dfat.gov.au/dept/hr/hr_manual/hr_man_ch2.html

The website contains the text of chapter 2 of the Human Rights Manual, “The International Legal Framework”, covering basic concepts of public international law and human rights, including treaty law.

United States of America

US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES INTERNET LAW LIBRARY: TREATIES AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

http://law.house.gov/89.htm

This site contains links to an enormous number of international treaties. It is arranged both by subject and individual treaty name and often includes different versions of the same treaty. Some of the major treaties reproduced include: Australia-Vietnam Trade and Economic Co-operation Agreement; General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade; Maastricht Treaty of the European Union; North American Free Trade Agreement; Patent Cooperation Treaty; and the Vienna Convention. It provides connections to other sites, such as the human rights collection compiled by the University of Minnesota.

European Union

TREATIES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

http://www.eurunion.org/infores/resguide.htm

This website includes information about European Union Treaties and Institutions (eg, the Maastricht Treaty).

International Law Commission

INTERNATIONAL LAW COMMISSION HOME PAGE

http://www.un.org/law/lindex.htm

The International Law Commission website includes material on its work, its 1996 Annual Report and information on the “Colloquium on Progressive Development and Codification of International Law” held in October 1997 to mark the ILC’s 50th anniversary.

VIENNA CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF TREATIES

gopher://wiretap.Spies.COM/00/Gov/Treaties/Treaties/treaties.69

United Nations (UN)

UN HOME PAGE

http://www.un.org/

OFFICIAL WEBSITE LOCATOR FOR THE UN SYSTEM OF ORGANISATIONS (UNO’S)

http://www.unsystem.org/

This site includes a world map of UN systems websites and provides entry to sites of other international organisations (not part of the UN system), for example, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), World Trade Organisation (WTO), and provides entry to sites for non-governmental international organisations, for example, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

UN INTERNATIONAL LAW PAGE

http://www.un.org/law/

UN TREATY COLLECTION DATABASE

http://www.un.org/Depts/Treaty

The UN Treaty collection, including the UN Treaty Series and the Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General. (This website attracts a fee). (See also the US House of Representatives and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy websites.)

CHARTER OF THE UN

http://www.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/aunchart.htm

UN HUMAN RIGHTS

http://www.un.org/rights/

UN HUMAN RIGHTS WEBSITE

http://193.135.156.15/welcome.htm

The site includes lists of human rights instruments.

UN TREATY BODIES

http://www.tufts.edu/fletcher/secretariats.html

This site provides access to the UN Treaty Secretariats and is part of the Multilaterals Project provided by the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf

This site contains the Treaty Bodies Database – a database developed to meet the growing interest in the UN committees established to monitor the implementation of the principal international human rights treaties (also referred to as “treaty monitoring bodies” or “treaty bodies”).

UN DOCUMENTS DATABASE: DAG HAMMARSKJOLD LIBRARY

http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/unique

This new database, UN-I-QUE, available on the Dag Hammarskjold Library home page, is an electronic research tool that serves as a guide to the symbols of tens of thousands of selected documents and new publications from 1946 to the present. UN-I-QUE focuses upon documents and publications of a recurrent nature: annuals/sessional reports of committees/commissions; monographic series; journals; annual publications; reports periodically/irregularly issued; reports of major conferences; statements in the General Debate; etc. It is geared towards the UN community and librarians in UN depository libraries but its usefulness will extend to researchers worldwide who would like to find shortcuts to identifying key documentation.

Note: There are many more sites with UN materials which can be retrieved by searching for convention name, organisation name or subject matter.

International trade (sample only)

UN COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW (UNCITRAL)

http://www.un.or.at/uncitral/index.html

This website is the home page of the International Trade Law Branch of the UN Office of Legal Affairs, servicing the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). The site includes the current status of Conventions and Model Law.

INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW MATERIALS INCLUDING MULTILATERAL TRADE AGREEMENTS

http://ananse.irv.uit.no/trade.html

WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION (WTO) HOME PAGE

http://www.unicc.org/wto

Environment (sample only)

OCEANS AND LAW OF THE SEA

http://www.un.org/Depts/los

ENVIRONMENTAL TREATIES AND RESOURCE INDICATORS SERVICE

http://sedac.ciesin.org/pidb/

This website provides a service for locating environmental treaties and resource indicators, including treaty texts and state parties, etc.

GUIDE TO THE LAWS AND INTERNATIONAL TREATIES OF THE US FOR PROTECTING MIGRATORY BIRDS

http://www.fws.gov/~r9mbmo/intrnltr/treatlaw.html

Intellectual property (sample only)

WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION (WIPO)

http://www.wipo.org/

WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION (WIPO) WEB

http://www.uspto.gov/

This is the site for the US Patent and Trade Mark Office which provides access to websites related to intellectual property worldwide.

WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY REPORT

http://www.bna.com/newsstand/wipr/2a06_69e.htm

This site contains a report on the negotiations of the two WIPO treaties on copyright.

WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION (WIPO) TREATY ON DATABASES

http://www.loc.gov/copyright/wipo6.html

The site details the WIPO proposal for a treaty on intellectual property in respect of databases.

Nuclear (sample only)

NUCLEAR TEST BAN TREATIES

http://www.acda.gov/treaties/ctbtreat.htm

This site has the text, narrative and signatories for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

http://www.acda.gov/treaties/ltbt.htm

This site has the text, narrative and signatories for the Limited Test Ban Treaty.

http://www.acda.gov/treaties/ttbt.htm

This site has the text, narrative and signatories for the Threshold Test Ban Treaty.

Universities and law schools

FLETCHER SCHOOL OF LAW AND DIPLOMACY

http://www.tufts.edu/fletcher/multilaterals.html

This website is the home of the Multilateral Project, an extensive collection. The project’s purpose is to make the text of international multilateral treaties and other instruments available. It also provides access to the United Nations Treaties Database.

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA HUMAN RIGHTS LIBRARY

http://www.umn.edu:80/humanrts

This site is a useful resource, with international human rights instruments and information on, for example, treaty ratifications.

WASHBURN LAW SCHOOL

http://lawlib.wuacc.edu/forint/forintmain.html

This is the Foreign and International Law Web which provides links to primary and international legal resources research aids and useful sites, on areas such as international treaties, environment law, human rights and public international law.

CORNELL LAW SCHOOL

gopher://gopher.law.cornell.edu:70/11/foreign/fletcher

This website contains a large list and text of conventions including the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, environmental conventions, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY LAW LIBRARY

http://www.nyu.edu:81/law/library/treaties.htm

The site includes full text treaty sources for international treaty research and references to many other treaty sources.