On Mon, 13 Mar 2000, Marta Russell wrote:
> As I understand these declarations are purely voluntary agreements
> that have no enforcement clauses attached to them at all. Who would
> enforce them? I worked a bit on the UN Convention of the Child
> declaration. The US and Somolia have yet to sign on to the one
> outlining protections for children.
I think the legal term for such agreements is that they are intended to be carried out on a "best endeavor" basis. If they were to be enforced by sanctions, they should legally speaking have to be renegotiated. But the same is true for the genocide and anti-torture conventions, and they suddenly became actionable. If powerful countries decide to set (or allow someone to set) a precedent, and it sticks, declarations are transformed into something else.
Michael
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com