International Treaties

The US government has refrained from ratifying many international treaties. Polls suggest that at least some of these treaties have the support of the majority of the American people. Or maybe not, but at least we could put them to a vote.

  1. Ottawa Treaty (the land-mine ban)
  2. Treaty on the Rights of the Child (only holdouts are the U.S. and Somalia)
  3. Protocol to enforce the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (vote was 178-1, the US the only holdout)
  4. United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
  5. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
  6. Convention on Biological Diversity
  7. International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
  8. Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
  9. International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings
  10. International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.
  11. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
  12. Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes Against Humanity
  13. Forced Labor Convention
  14. Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention
  15. Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention
  16. Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age to Marriage and Registration of Marriages
  17. Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
  18. Convention on the International Right of Correction
  19. International Criminal Court
  20. Kyoto Accords (greenhouse gas reductions)
  21. UN Convention on Biological Diversity (regulating genetic engineering)
  22. UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
  23. Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty [prohibiting programs like "Stars Wars"]
  24. Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal
  25. Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes
  26. International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries
  27. International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid
  28. Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment
  29. Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
  30. Code of Conduct on Arms Transfers (prohibiting sale of arms to human rights violators & aggressors)
  31. Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
  32. Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, and Other Related Materials
  33. UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (bans toxic waste dumping, etc.)
  34. UN Moon Treaty [declaring the moon part of the Common Heritage of Mankind]
  35. Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
  36. UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
  37. Protocol to enforce the Convention Against Torture
  38. United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
  39. Cluster munitions ban

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Compiled by Evan Ravitz