Treatybreakers

Treatybreakers are actors who fail to fulfill the obligations set out in international treaties. The term can apply to states, organizations, or individuals bound by agreements that regulate conduct, disarmament, borders, trade, or other issues. A breach may be intentional repudiation, noncompliance, or withdrawal from a treaty before its expiration. Whether a given action constitutes a breach can be contested and depends on the treaty’s text, context, and the interpretations of the parties involved.

Legal framework for breach is grounded in international law, with the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969) providing principles on consent, entry into force, modification, termination, and breach. In many treaties a material breach permits suspension or termination of obligations by the other party. Remedies and responses include diplomatic protest and negotiation, mediation or arbitration, adjudication by the International Court of Justice, and measures by states or international organizations such as sanctions or Security Council action.

Causes and types of breaches vary. They can be deliberate or inadvertent, and may involve failure to implement disarmament commitments, evasion of sanctions, or unilateral withdrawal. Breaches are sometimes argued and contested; international bodies or courts may issue determinations, and political actors may dispute the characterization of a particular act as a breach.

Examples commonly cited as treaty breaches include North Korea’s withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and subsequent nuclear tests; Syria’s use of chemical weapons in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention; and concerns about Russia’s alleged violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which ended amid disputes over compliance. The United States’ withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2018 is similarly described by some observers as a breach, though views differ.