UK International Treaties & Statues

UK International Treaties & Statues

1. NATO

2. EU

   • UK Membership
     • 1973: The UK makes a third – and successful – application, this time under Conservative PM Edward Heath. Joining alongside Britain are Denmark and Ireland. Norway also applies, but it does not join, after a referendum on membership.
     • 1992: The Maastricht Treaty is signed, creating the European Union – into which was the EC was rolled. It also sets the foundations for the single currency, and establishes cooperation in foreign and security policy.
     • 2007: The Lisbon Treaty is signed, significantly extending the powers of the European Parliament and strengthening the European Council.
   • UK Role
     • The UK is one of 28 member states of the European Union and is subject to European Union (EU) legislation. UK government ministers are involved in deciding this legislation and should not agree to proposals before Parliament has examined them.
     • n 2016 the UK government paid £13.1 billion to the EU budget, and EU spending on the UK was forecast to be £4.5 billion. So the UK’s ‘net contribution’ was estimated at about £8.6 billion.
   • Examples of Action
     • The European Convention on Human Rights is an international treaty to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953.

3. United Nations

   • UK Membership
     • The UN was formulated and negotiated among the delegations from the Allied Big Four (the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and China) at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in 1944.
     • The U.N. began with 51 countries and is now comprised of 193 Member States.
     • One of the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council.
   • UK Role
     • The UK is the fifth-largest contributor to the UN's regular budget, contributing 5.19% of the budget - or £82m - in 2014.
     • The UK is also the fifth-largest contributor to the UN's peacekeeping budget, paying for 6.68% of $7bn a year.
     • The UK is an active member of the UN's Human Rights Council, having been recently elected to the Council. This means it contributes to the development of human rights laws and norms, and to the protection of human rights in specific country situations.
   • Examples of Action
     • Countries voluntarily decided to give up weapons because they were too efficient. South Africa did this at the end of apartheid, and Kazakhstan when the Soviet Union fell apart. A number of other countries have committed to ending nuclear weapon research programmes and submit to inspections by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency.