Strategy for an Era of Application
of International Law - Action Plan
by the Senior Management Group and Approved by the Secretary-General,
Download Action Plan in PDF
The Charter Mandate
The Charter envisages that the United Nations will take action to
enhance respect for international law. The preamble of the Charter
thus calls on Member States “to establish conditions under which justice
and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources
of international law can be maintained”. An important aim of the United
Nations is, therefore, to bring about the implementation both of treaties
and of rules of customary international law.
Nature of the Action Plan
This Plan identifies actions which Secretariat units, Programmes,
Funds and Agencies might take in order to promote the better implementation
of international law.
For the most part, these actions:
Are already within the
competence of the Secretariat, Programmes, Funds and Agencies and do
not require any further mandate from any political organ or the voting
of any additional resources;
Use and build upon existing mechanisms
and practices; and
Engage and make use of the resources
of civil society, in particular, of NGOs, given their ever more important
role in the development and implementation of international law.
Some actions, however, would require a decision by apolitical
organ, in order to provide either the necessary mandate or the necessary
financial or human resources or both.
The Plan is action oriented and is meant to be a working tool that
can be used in all sectors of the Organization. All actions are indicated
in italics. It goes without saying that some of these actions are already
being taken in certain parts of the Organization.