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Kiani, A., Talaie, F. (2025). International Responsibility of Qatar for ‎‏"‏Interpretive Declarations‏"‏‎ ‎Issued Concerning the Trade Unions Provisions of International Human ‎Rights Covenants. , (), 1489-1514. doi: 10.22059/jplsq.2025.380396.3577
Amirabbas Kiani; Farhad Talaie. "International Responsibility of Qatar for ‎‏"‏Interpretive Declarations‏"‏‎ ‎Issued Concerning the Trade Unions Provisions of International Human ‎Rights Covenants". , , , 2025, 1489-1514. doi: 10.22059/jplsq.2025.380396.3577
Kiani, A., Talaie, F. (2025). 'International Responsibility of Qatar for ‎‏"‏Interpretive Declarations‏"‏‎ ‎Issued Concerning the Trade Unions Provisions of International Human ‎Rights Covenants', , (), pp. 1489-1514. doi: 10.22059/jplsq.2025.380396.3577
Kiani, A., Talaie, F. International Responsibility of Qatar for ‎‏"‏Interpretive Declarations‏"‏‎ ‎Issued Concerning the Trade Unions Provisions of International Human ‎Rights Covenants. , 2025; (): 1489-1514. doi: 10.22059/jplsq.2025.380396.3577

International Responsibility of Qatar for ‎‏"‏Interpretive Declarations‏"‏‎ ‎Issued Concerning the Trade Unions Provisions of International Human ‎Rights Covenants

فصلنامه مطالعات حقوق عمومی دانشگاه تهران
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 22 June 2025    PDF (784.32 K)
Document Type: Article
DOI: 10.22059/jplsq.2025.380396.3577
Authors
Amirabbas Kiani1; Farhad Talaie* 2
1MA. in International Law, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran‎
2Associate Prof. of International Law, Department of Public and International Law, Faculty of Law ‎and Political Science, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
Abstract
When Qatar joined the international human rights covenants, it applied reservations and interpretative declarations into a number of their provisions. In particular, the state issued, in its opinion, interpretative declarations to Article 8 of the Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and Article 22 of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, concerning the issue of trade unions freedom. According to the content of the declarations, Qatar will implement and interpret the latter provisions according to its labor law. These declarations were criticized by various international institutions including the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the basis that they are reservations in nature and are in conflict with the subject and purpose of the covenants. The institutions considered the declarations as a breach of [the customary content] of Article 19 (c) of the 1969 Convention on the Law of Treaties and in a way, highlighted the matter of international responsibility arising from the Impermissible Reservation which is the subject of dispute. This article employs a descriptive-analytical approach to address the question of how to assess Qatar's international responsibility resulting from the issuing declarations to the trade unions provisions of Covenants. Considering international documents, jurisprudence, and doctrine, the present article concludes that the said declarations are reservations due to limiting the scope of implementation of the covenants and are impermissible due to their non-compliance with the subject and purpose of the covenants. These impermissible reservations entail Qatar's international responsibility due to the violation of the customary content of Article 19 (c) of the 1969 Convention, based on Article 1 of the State Responsibility Draft Articles of the International Law Commission.
Keywords
‎1969 Convention; ‎International ‎Responsibility; Qatar; ‎Reservation; Trade ‎Unions.‎
References
English

  1. A) Books
  2. Dörr, O., & Schmalenbach, K. (2018). Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties: A Commentary. Springer.
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  1. B) Chapters in Books
  2. Klabbers, J. (2004). On Human Rights Treaties, Contractual Conceptions and Reservations In: Ziemele, Inata. (ed) Reservations to Human Rights Treaties and the Vienna Convention Regime. Springer, 149-182.
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  1. C) Articles
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  1. D) Documents
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  4. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). Concluding observations on the initial report of Qatar, E/C.12/QAT/CO/1, 2023.
  5. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). General Comment no. 20: Non-discrimination in economic, social and cultural rights (art. 2, para. 2, of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), E/C.12/GC/20, 2009.
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  7. Guide to Practice on Reservations to Treaties, A/66/10, I.L.C. 2011.
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  9. Human Rights Committee (HRC). General Comment no. 24: Issues Relating to Reservations Made upon Ratification or Accession to the Covenant or the Optional Protocols thereto, or in Relation to Declarations under Article 41 of the Covenant, CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.6, 1994.
  10. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), 16 December 1966.
  11. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), 16 December 1966
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  13. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).
  14. Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT), 23 May 1969.
  15. Yearbook of the International Law Commission. Report of the Commission to the General Assembly on the Work of Its Fifty-Ninth Session, A/CN.4/SER.A/2007/Add.1 (Part 2), Volume II, Part Two, 2007.
 

  1. E) Cases
  2. Alleged Violations of State Immunities (Islamic Republic of Iran v. Canada), Application instituting proceedings, I.C.J Reports, 2023.
  3. Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company, Limited, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports, 1970.
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  2. Amnesty International (a), All Pay, No Pay: The Struggle of Qatar’s Migrant Workers for Justice, 2019.
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References in Persian:

  1. A) Books
  2. Falsafi, H. (2019). International Law of Treaties. Now and Asim Publications (In Persian).
  3. Ghari seyed fatemeh, S. M. (2010). Human Rights in Contemporary Globe: a Reflection on Theatrical Discourses, Concepts, Principles, Scopes and Sources. the SD Institute of Law Research & Study (In Persian).
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  1. B) Articles
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  10. Seyrafi, S., & Sayyad Abdi, H. (2023). The Teleological Approach in the General Comments of the ‎Human Rights Committee. Public Law Studies Quarterly, 53 (1), 67- 96 (In Persian).
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