Biological Weapons Convention: It is a key element in the international community’s efforts to address Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) proliferation and it has established a strong norm against biological weapons. WMD is a weapon with the capacity to inflict death and destruction on such a massive scale and so indiscriminately that its very presence in the hands of …
What is the Hague Convention 1954? Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict was adopted in 1954 under the auspices of UNESCO. This convention is referred to as the 1954 Hague Convention. It is the first and the most comprehensive multilateral treaty dedicated exclusively to the protection of cultural heritage in times of …
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Geneva Conventions: It is a set of rules that prescribe guidelines for combatant behaviour during a war. It comprises four treaties, standardised in 1949. Three more protocols were later added which codify ethical and legal international norms for the humanitarian treatment of civilians who are affected by the war. The convention mainly focuses on: Treatment …
What is the Montreux Convention? It is an international agreement to regulate naval passage of Black Seas. It was signed by Australia, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Japan, Romania, Yugoslavia, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and Turkey and has been in effect since November 1936. The Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits gives Turkey control over the water route …
Belavezha Accords: The Belovezh Accords is the agreement that declared that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) had effectively ceased to exist. The agreement was signed in Belovezh (Belarus) in December 1991. Belavezha Accords also announced the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) that would replace the USSR. The accord was signed …
Context: Russia has launched an all-out attack on Ukraine through land, air and sea. International laws related to war: The UN Charter The principle of non-intervention is enshrined in article 2(4) of the UN Charter. It demands the states to avoid using force or threat of using force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any …
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Outer Space Treaty, 1967: The treaty provides the basic framework for international space law. The exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind. Outer space shall be free for exploration and use by all States. …
Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons: The United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) also known as the Inhumane Weapons Convention was concluded at Geneva in 1980 and entered into force in 1983. Purpose: It is a framework of rules that ban or restrict weapons considered to cause unnecessary, unjustifiable and indiscriminate suffering such as incendiary explosives, blinding lasers and booby traps that don’t distinguish …
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What is the tentative list of UNESCO world heritage sites? If a state considers a monument/site has cultural and/or natural heritage of outstanding universal value and therefore suitable for inscription on the World Heritage List. Then the state prepares a list of such sites and sends it to UNESCO. The UNESCO after preliminary inspection accepts/rejects the monument and form …
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The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) is nuclear arms-control accord reached by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1987 in which those two nations agreed to eliminate their stocks of intermediate-range and shorter-range (or “medium-range”) land-based missiles (which could carry nuclear warheads). It was the first arms-control treaty to abolish an entire …
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