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Annual UN treaty event concludes with 80 actions by Member States

Annual UN treaty event concludes with 80 actions by Member States

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The annual United Nations treaty event to promote universal participation in more than 500 multilateral global pacts drew to a close today with a total of 43 Member States signing or ratifying 80 separate conventions, agreements, treaties and optional protocols.

This year’s event – which began on 23 September – has seen the participation of many world leaders, with treaty actions from six heads of State and 21 foreign ministers.

Three Member States today took part in the closing day of the event with four treaty actions.

Cameroon signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol, bringing the event total to six signatures and three ratifications for the Convention and seven signatures and two ratifications for its Optional Protocol.

Following in the footsteps of Laos and Tanzania from Monday, Greece and Iceland today signed the Convention on Enforced Disappearances, which received five signatures and one ratification during the event, leaving it five States short of the 20 required to enter into force.

As 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the treaty event’s ethos “Universal Participation and Implementation – Dignity and Justice for All of Us,” similarly reflected this theme.

The 80 treaty actions endorsed through this year’s edition of the annual event, which has taken place at the UN Headquarters since 2000, will work to support international law concerning the environment, trade, human rights and disarmament.