In its Millennium Declaration, the General Assembly of the United Nations emphasised the need to strengthen the international rule of law and respect for all internationally recognised human rights and fundamental freedoms, thus clearly highlighting a key area of focus for the United Nations in the new millennium.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations has reaffirmed his commitment to advancing the international rule of law. Treaties are the primary source of international law, and the Secretary-General is the main depositary of multilateral treaties in the world. At present, over 500 multilateral treaties are deposited with him. In his endeavours to enhance respect for the international rule of law, the Secretary-General has encouraged Member States that have not done so already to become parties to those treaties. The United Nations has undertaken a number of initiatives to assist States to become party to multilateral treaties and thereby contribute to strengthening the international rule of law.
This Handbook, prepared by the Treaty Section of the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs as a practical guide to the depositary practice of the Secretary-General and the registration practice of the Secretariat, is intended as a contribution to the United Nations efforts to assist States in becoming party to the international treaty framework. It is written in simple language and, with the aid of diagrams and step-by-step instructions, touches upon many aspects of treaty law and practice. This Handbook is designed for use by States, international organizations and other entities. In particular, it is intended to assist States with scarce resources and limited technical proficiency in treaty law and practice to participate fully in the multilateral treaty framework.
In the past, the Treaty Section of the Office of Legal Affairs has received representatives from foreign ministries to provide them with the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the Secretary-General's depositary practice and the Secretariat's registration practice. In the future, the Treaty Section hopes to offer this opportunity to other Member State representatives. This Handbook is intended to facilitate such visits and will also be the basis for a pilot training programme that the Treaty Section, Office of Legal Affairs, and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) will be offering permanent missions: Deposit of Treaty Actions with the Secretary-General and the Registration of Treaties.
Of course, aside from paper copies of this Handbook and face-to-face training, there are various resources available on the United Nations web site in relation to the depositary and registration practices applied within the United Nations. The web site at http://untreaty.un.org contains, among many other things, an electronic copy of this Handbook, a technical assistance site which directs users to relevant UN agencies and the United Nations Treaty Collection which contains the multilateral treaties deposited with the Secretary-General and the United Nations Treaty Series.
States are encouraged to make full use of the wealth of information contained in these pages and to contact the Treaty Section of the Office of Legal Affairs by e-mail at treaty@un.org with any comments or questions.