69th United Nations General Assembly Sixth Committee Agenda item 78 (Part 3): Report of the International Law Commission Statement by the Micronesia Delegation New York, 3 November 2014

Mr. Chairman,

This statement deals only with the topic of the provisional application of treaties, as contained in Chapter XII of Document A/69/10. Micronesia is grateful to Special Rapporteur Mr. Manuel Gomez-Robledo for leading the work of the Commission and producing two reports to date on this important topic. 

Mr. Chairman,

The act of entering into a treaty is a momentous affair in international law. When two or more States agree to bind themselves to the terms of a treaty, they place their national interests, their aspirations, and potentially their sovereignties at the mercy of their treaty partners. Whether it is for peace, defense, trade, economic union, or some other weighty matter, a treaty injects a measure of stability and predictability into international relations and provides a fertile source for rules and principles of international law. Given the far-reaching ramifications of validly concluded treaties, it is very important that Parties to a treaty know when the treaty actually applies and binds them, particularly if that occurs before the treaty enters into force. The Commission’s examination of the provisional application of treaties is thus a critical one.