Environmental, human rights accords continue to gather support at UN treaty event

Conventions and protocols on human rights and the environment continued to receive widespread support from Member States on the third day of the annual United Nations event aimed at promoting greater participation in global treaties and international law.

Madagascar and Grenada added themselves to the growing list of countries who have signed the Nagoya Protocol, a key text on equitably sharing the Earth’s genetic resources. Madagascar also signed a protocol on biosafety, while the Solomon Islands ratified the Amendment on the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

On the human rights front, St. Lucia signed up to four accords – more than any other state today – including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This last one was also ratified by Bahrain.

Paraguay and Ethiopia signed the multilateral agreement for a think tank for landlocked developing countries (LLDC), a day after Mongolia – which would host such a think tank at its capital, Ulaanbaatar – called for more support during its leader’s address to the General Assembly’s annual general debate.

In the area of disarmament, the Republic of Guinea ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the Czech Republic ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions, and Burundi signed a convention for the control of small arms and light weapons.

Other treaty actions today included the Philippines ratifying the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, Croatia acceding to the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, and Andorra ratifying a convention against transnational crime.