On 12-13 November 2024, the Treaty Section of the Office of Legal Affairs conducted a Regional Workshop on Treaty Law and Practice in Singapore for representatives from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Member States. This capacity-building event marked the first of such workshops organized for the Asia-Pacific region in 14 years and was made possible with the collaboration and support of Singapore and of the Centre for International Law of the National University of Singapore.
The Workshop brought together 51 representatives from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam, for two days of discussions and exchanges on various aspects of treaty law and practices. Topics included the role and practice of the Secretary-General of the United Nations as depositary of multilateral treaties, Treaty-making at the United Nations, and the registration and publication of treaties under Article 102 of the UN Charter. The programme also featured specialized sessions from representatives of the Attorney-General’s Chambers of Singapore and from a faculty member of the National University of Singapore, who provided insights, respectively, into treaty practices in Singapore and within Asia-Pacific regional organizations.
The Treaty Section organizes capacity-building workshops twice a year at UN Headquarters in New York, and at the national and regional levels upon invitation by Member States or interested organizations. Notably, in its resolutions 76/120 of 9 December 2021 and 78/236 of 22 December 2023, the General Assembly invited states and interested organizations and institutions to make voluntary contributions towards the financing of regional and national workshops on treaty law and practice.
More information regarding the Treaty Section capacity-building programmes can be found on the .
