Termination or suspension of the operation of a treaty as a consequence of its breach
- 1
- A material breach of a bilateral treaty by one of the parties entitles the other to invoke the breach as a ground for terminating the treaty or suspending its operation in whole or in part.
- 2
- A material breach of a multilateral treaty by one of the parties entitles:
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- (a)the other parties by unanimous agreement to suspend the operation of the treaty in whole or in part or to terminate it either:
- (i)in the relations between themselves and the defaulting State, or
- (ii)as between all the parties;
- (b)a party specially affected by the breach to invoke it as a ground for suspending the operation of the treaty in whole or in part in the relations between itself and the defaulting State;
- (c)any party other than the defaulting State to invoke the breach as a ground for suspending the operation of the treaty in whole or in part with respect to itself if the treaty is of such a character that a material breach of its provisions by one party radically changes the position of every party with respect to the further performance of its obligations under the treaty.
- 3
- A material breach of a treaty, for the purposes of this article, consists in:
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- (a)a repudiation of the treaty not sanctioned by the present Convention; or
- (b)the violation of a provision essential to the accomplishment of the object or purpose of the treaty.
- 4
- The foregoing paragraphs are without prejudice to any provision in the treaty applicable in the event of a breach.
- 5
- Paragraphs 1 to 3 do not apply to provisions relating to the protection of the human person contained in treaties of a humanitarian character, in particular to provisions prohibiting any form of reprisals against persons protected by such treaties.
