The Role of Treaty Bodies in Monitoring Compliance with International Environmental Obligations
https://doi.org/10.24833/RJWPLN-2023-3-37-71
Abstract
A large number of international treaties regulating various spheres of international relations have already entered into force. As current practice shows, the emphasis has shifted from the need to regulate an increasing number of relationships to the importance of improving the efficiency of existing international treaties. The present article analyzes the implementation of this process in international environmental law. The authors show that a number of global and regional environmental agreements have established quasi-judicial procedures (so-called “non-compliance procedures”) in the form of implementation and compliance committees serving as international control mechanisms. The purpose of such mechanisms is to identify and resolve both local and systemic theoretical and practical issues of non-compliance arising from the provisions of international treaties.
The article is based on a large amount of material, including internationally binding legal acts, acts of an advisory nature, and modern doctrinal research of Russian and foreign scholars. The methodological basis of the research consists of general scientific methods (logical and systems analysis, the dialectical method, deduction and induction) and private scientific methods (historical and legal, comparative legal, formallegal methods, the method of legal modelling and forecasting).
In their research, the authors analyze various international binding and non-binding instruments, summarize doctrinal positions made by Russian and Western legal scholars presented in domestic and foreign scientific literature, and identify the main issues of compliance committees of international environmental agreements.
The authors attempt to give answers to the following questions: Is it necessary to fix the provisions contained in the texts of existing international environmental agreements establishing the compliance committee, or can this be done later, at the annual meetings of the conferences of the parties? What should the composition and mandate of the compliance committee be? And how efficiently do these committees function? As a result of the research, the authors draw conclusions about the need for detailed monitoring of changes in the various international environmental agreements in order to improve the effectiveness of compliance committees in exercising their mandates and identify violations of the mandates of these committees.
English translation from the Russian text: Otrashevskaya A. M., Solntsev A. M., Yusifova P. N. 2023. Rol' dogovornykh organov v kontrole za vypolneniem mezhdunarodnykh ekologicheskikh obyazatel'stv. Moskovskiy Zhurnal Mezhdunarodnogo Prava [Moscow Journal of International Law]. No. 1. P. 47–75. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24833/0869-0049-2023-1-47-75
Keywords
international environmental law,
non-compliance procedure,
quasi-judicial procedures,
international environmental agreements,
CITES,
Aarhus Convention,
Paris Convention,
Nagoya Protocol,
Minamata Convention
Supporting agencies: The article is written with the support of the Russian Science Foundation, Project No 23-28-01280.
About the Authors
A. M. Otrashevskaya
Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Anastasia M. Otrashevskaya – Postgraduate student, Department of International Law
6, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya, Moscow, Russia, 117198
A. M. Solntsev
Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Alexander M. Solntsev – Candidate of Legal Sciences, Associate Professor, Deputy Head of the Department, Department of International Law
6, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya, Moscow, Russia, 117198
P. N. Yusifova
Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Parzad N. Yusifova – Postgraduate student, Department of International Law
6, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya, Moscow, Russia, 117198
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For citations:
Otrashevskaya A.M., Solntsev A.M., Yusifova P.N. The Role of Treaty Bodies in Monitoring Compliance with International Environmental Obligations. Russian Journal of World Politics and Law of Nations. 2023;2(3):37-71. https://doi.org/10.24833/RJWPLN-2023-3-37-71
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