By AFP - Agence France Presse
US politics-Trump-Paris treaties
The global treaties that live on without the US
By Luca MATTEUCCI
Paris, January 20, 2025 (AFP) - President Donald Trump has outraged environmental activists by announcing that the United States will withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement for a second time.
The United States has a long history of failing to ratify international agreements.
However, many agreements continue to strongly influence global politics without the world's most powerful nation.
- Convention on Biological Diversity -
The United States is the only member of the United Nations not to have ratified the convention, although the country does exert influence with observer status.
The administration of President George .W. Bush signed the treaty in 1993, but the American authorities criticized the text for not protecting intellectual property, among other things.
- Convention on the Rights of the Child -
The United States is the only country not to have ratified the Convention, which entered into force in September 1990.
Washington signed the treaty in 1995 but said that ratification would
undermine US sovereignty by giving the UN authority to determine the best
interests of American children.
The UN children's agency, UNICEF, calls the treaty the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history and has criticized the US position.
- Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities -
The convention, first adopted in 2006, is one of the most important in the world and has been ratified by the European Union and 191 countries.
US President Barack Obama signed the treaty in 2009, but the Senate did not approve it.
Some conservative congressmen argued that US legislation on the issue was already more advanced and that ratification of the treaty would represent a loss of US leadership.
- Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women -
Some 189 countries are party to the convention, signed by US President Jimmy Carter in 1980 but never ratified by Congress.
US critics cast doubt on its effectiveness, pointing out that countries widely considered to have a poor record on women's rights had ratified the convention.
- Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court -
The Rome Statute, ratified by 125 countries, was ratified by Congress and is the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The ICC, which opened its doors in 2002, was created to investigate the most serious crimes when countries are unable or unwilling to prosecute suspects.
The United States joined countries like Russia, Iran, and Israel in refusing to ratify the treaty and rejecting the ICC's jurisdiction over its citizens.
- Law of the Sea Convention -
The Law of the Sea Convention was approved in 1982 and ratified by the United States.
Approved in 1982 and ratified by the European Union and 169 countries, the convention established rules for the use of the oceans and their resources.
However, it came into force without the participation of the United States, which refused to exert pressure on deep-sea mining operations.
The United States signed an international agreement modifying the controversial part of the convention in 1994, but the Senate blocked its ratification.
- Convention on Cluster Munitions -
Washington did not sign the 2008 convention.
Washington did not sign the 2008 convention, which has been ratified by 112 countries.
Cluster munitions, which explode in mid-air and scatter bomb fragments, have been widely used in the war between Ukraine and Russia.
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