Annan invites Summit leaders to sign or ratify a raft of international treaties

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has invited heads of State and government attending the 2005 World Summit to take the opportunity to sign, ratify or accede to 32 key treaties ranging from human rights and refugees to terrorism and the Kyoto protocol to curb global warming gases.

This continues an initiative begun at the Millennium Summit in 2000 that has since become an annual event for treaties for which the Secretary-General is depositary during the opening of each General Assembly.

More heads of State or government are expected to participate in this year’s Summit than at any previous international meeting ever, and expectations for such a high level of participation extend to the treaty event as well.

“Ours is an age of unprecedented interconnectedness,” Mr. Annan wrote in his letter to heads of State and government inviting them to participate in the event. “The destinies of peoples around the world and the threats they face are interwoven.”

The treaties selected this year, rather than focus on any specific aspect of international law as has been the case in the past, reflect what the Secretary-General calls “the central challenge for the twenty-first century – to fashion a new and broader understanding … of what collective security means.”

They span a broad range of issues, also including penal matters, organized crime and corruption, the law of the sea, disarmament and health.

At this year’s event, the recently adopted International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism will be opened for signature. The UN Convention Against Corruption, which was adopted in 2003, is expected to enter into force during the event while the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (IIC) approaches its 100th ratification or accession.