Advice but No Consent: Ratification of Human Rights Treaties in the U.S. Senate

• In Event: Law, Legislating, and US Foreign Policy

Abstract

The U.S. falls within the bottom five states internationally in human rights treaty ratifications. What role does the U.S. Senate play in this phenomenon? And what lessons can we derive from treaty construction in delaying or obstructing consent? I analyze the success of human rights treaties surviving the Senate's advice and consent process on the basis of treaties' procedural structure and issue focus. I propose human rights treaties share difficulties in securing consent with treaties of other types on the basis of procedural attributes such as compliance and enforcement measures. However, the success of human rights treaties themselves is determined by the inclusion of values-based features in the form of positive rights and rights pertaining to protected classes.

Author

• Ryan Frazier, University of Maryland