Foreign Policy
Spring 1998

Sidebar: Odd Man Out?

By Steven R. Ratner

Total number of bilateral and multilateral treaties registered with the UN since its creation: approximately 50,000

Total number of registered treaties in force to which the United States is a party: approximately 10,000

Major multilateral treaties to which the United States is not a party:

Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)*
—191 parties, all but the United States & Somalia 

Convention on Biological Diversity (1992)*
—172 parties

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination  Against Women (1979)*
—161 parties

Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (1996)*
—149 signatories (not yet in force)

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966)*
—137 parties

UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982, amended 1994)*
—123 parties

Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (1997)
—122 signatories (not yet in force)

*indicates the United States has signed but the Senate has yet to give its advice and consent.