Uppsatsmall doc

1.2 Method and Material
The method used in writing this thesis has mainly been to study works by
academic scholars, works written in different times and in various countries, and
therefore represents a variety of views and perspectives, in order to get a general
view of the topic. A large part of the preparatory work consisted of finding and
choosing the “right” articles and books in order to get a full and comprehensive
view of the question. Hopefully the literature chosen covers the subject in a
satisfactory way. The vast majority of the material used was written directly or
indirectly as contributions to the since a long time ongoing international discourse
on the subject.
The two main monographs used are written by Frank Horn; Reservations and
Interpretative Declarations to Multilateral Treaties
1
and by Liesbeth Lijnzaad;
Reservations to UN Human Rights Treaties- Ratify and Ruin?
2
. Both are very
thorough works, even if the latter deals with the question I am interested in in a
more explicit way. Among the articles used are Belinda Clark, Jan Klabbers, P.-
H. Imbert, J. K. Koh and Rosalyn Higgins, all well-known names in the
international debate.
1
Horn, F., Reservations and Interpretative Declarations to Multilateral Treaties, Uppsala
University Press, 1986. (Doctoral thesis)
2
Lijnzaad, L., Reservations to UN Human Rights Treaties- Ratify and Ruin?, T.M.C. Asser
Instituut, 1994. (Doctoral thesis)

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1.3 The State of the Debate
Many academic scholars have paid attention to the subject of reservations to
treaties over the years, both prior and after the adoption of the VCLT in 1969.
The majority, if not all, of the works chosen are from the period after the adoption
of the “treaty on treaties”. As a result of this ongoing debate, with participants not
only among the scholars, but also among the member states of the UN, the ILC
decided to appoint a Special Rapporteur to conduct a thorough examination. The
Committee appointed Alain Pellet, and his mandate was given him in 1994.
3
So
far, the Special Rapporteur has released five separate reports, each and everyone
followed by a number of addendums and corrections in separate documents,
which at first gave the impression of taking the shape of a boundless, unlimited
and endless work. In a passage below there will be a presentation of the work of
the Special Rapporteur.
At approximately the same time as Alain Pellet was appointed Special
Rapporteur, the Human Rights Commission, the supervisory body of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ICCPR, adopted its General
Comment on reservations to the ICCPR.
4
This is also only one year after the
Second World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna, in 1993. In the
document adopted at this summit, “the Vienna Declaration and Programme of
Action”, the participating states undertook to look over and, if possible, withdraw
their reservations made to human rights treaties. By taking these separate events
into account, I think it is safe to assume that the international community was set
to at least try to make a change in the practice of making reservations to treaties.