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International Human Rights Law

Locating Travaux Preparatoires

What are travaux preparatoire and how can I find them?

Travaux préparatoires are the documentary evidence of the negotiation, discussions, and drafting of a final treaty text. Travaux préparatoires may sometimes also be referred to as:

  • negotiating history
  • drafting history  
  • preparatory documents 

According to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, these documents can be used to supplement the interpretation of a treaty when the meaning is ambiguous or obscure when reading the treaty alone.

See "What are Travaux...", and "Ask Dag - Questions related to Travaux Preparatoire" Dag Hammerskold Library, Online:ask.un.org .

Preparatory documents exist for every treaty; however, these documents are published for only a limited number of treaties. The Law Library possesses several of these publications (e.g. UN Charter, Refugee Convention, European Convention on Human Rights, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Convention on the Law of Treaties, ICCPR, Protocols to the Geneva Conventions, Unidroit conventions).

In addition, some treaty secretariats publish preparatory and implementation documents on their Internet site. When a treaty has been concluded within the framework of an international organization, you should also check the website of that organization.

When the International Law Commission has been involved in drafting a convention, you can find reports on the preparatory work in the Yearbook of the International Law Commission (JX 1261 U58) and on its website. Another helpful guide is the 3-volume publication The International Law Commission, 1949-1998, by Arthur Watts (JX 1261 U58 I61)

Finally, it is important to do background reading in secondary sources (monographs, journal articles, case law). These could contain references to a treaty's travaux préparatoires.

Selected Travaux Preparatoires in Novanet