This is a list of international treaties the United States has either not signed, not ratified, or signed/ratified but later withdrawn its signature/ratification from.
Background [ edit ] "[The President] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur..."
– Treaty Clause (U.S. Constitution )
The Treaty Clause in Article Two of the United States Constitution dictates that the President of the United States negotiates treaties with other countries or political entities, and signs them. Signed treaties enter into force only if ratified by at least two-thirds (67 members) of the United States Senate . (Technically, the Senate itself does not ratify treaties, it only approves or rejects resolutions of ratification submitted by the Committee on Foreign Relations ; if approved, the United States exchanges the instruments of ratification with the foreign power(s)).[1] Between 1789 and 1990, the Senate approved more than 1,500 treaties , rejected 21, and 85 treaties were withdrawn because the Senate did not act on them. As of December 2014, 36 treaties signed by the President were awaiting action by the Senate.[2]
Among the treaties unsigned or unratified by the United States, a few have been singled out by organizations such as Human Rights Watch (2009), as extremely important, and the United States’ reluctance to ratify them problematic.[3] Among the treaties are the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED), the Ottawa Treaty (Mine Ban Treaty), the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities , and the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT).[3] The United States is also one of the few countries not to have ratified the Kyoto Protocol .[4] According to a 2014 analysis by The New Republic , the ratification of a significant number of treaties signed after 1990 has been blocked by senators of the Republican Party for various ideological reasons.[2]
Year Treaty Depositary U.S. status 1930 Forced Labour Convention International Labour Organization signed, not ratified 1948 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention International Labour Organization not signed 1949 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 International Labour Organization not signed 1950 Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others UN Secretary-General not signed 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees UN Secretary-General only 1967 protocol 1951 Equal Remuneration Convention International Labour Organization signed, not ratified 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons UN Secretary-General not signed 1958 Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention International Labour Organization signed, not ratified 1960 Convention against Discrimination in Education UNESCO signed, not ratified 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness UN Secretary-General not signed 1962 Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages UN Secretary-General signed, not ratified 1964 Employment Policy Convention, 1964 International Labour Organization signed, not ratified 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights UN Secretary-General signed, not ratified 1966 First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights UN Secretary-General not signed 1969 Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity UN Secretary-General signed, not ratified 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties UN Secretary-General signed, not ratified 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty Bilateral US–Soviet treaty ratified 1972, withdrew 2002 1973 Minimum Age Convention, 1973 International Labour Organization signed, not ratified 1977 American Convention on Human Rights Organization of American States signed, not ratified 1977 Protocol I (Geneva Conventions amendment) UN Secretary-General signed, not ratified 1977 Protocol II (Geneva Conventions amendment) UN Secretary-General signed, not ratified 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) UN Secretary-General signed 1980, not ratified[3] 1979 Salt II Bilateral US–Soviet treaty signed 1979, withdrew 1980 1979 Moon Treaty UN Secretary-General not signed 1981 Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 International Labour Organization signed, not ratified 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) UN Secretary-General not signed 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty Bilateral US–Soviet treaty ratified 1988, withdrew 2019 1989 Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights UN Secretary-General not signed 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Secretary-General signed 1995, not ratified[3] 1989 Basel Convention UN Secretary-General signed, not ratified 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families UN Secretary-General not signed 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) UN Secretary-General signed, not ratified 1994 Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel UN Secretary-General signed, not ratified 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty UN Secretary-General signed, not ratified 1997 Kyoto Protocol UN Secretary-General signed, not ratified 1997 Ottawa Treaty (Mine Ban Treaty) UN Secretary-General not signed[3] 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court UN Secretary-General signed 1998, withdrew 2002[5] 1999 Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (OP-CEDAW) UN Secretary-General not signed 1999 Civil Law Convention on Corruption Council of Europe not signed[6] 2002 Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) UN Secretary-General not signed[3] [7] 2007 International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED) UN Secretary-General not signed[3] 2007 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities UN Secretary-General signed 2009, not ratified[8] 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) UN Secretary-General not signed[3] 2011 Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) Government of Japan signed, not ratified 2013 Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) UN Secretary-General signed, not ratified 2016 Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Government of New Zealand signed 2016, withdrew 2017
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