PhD Thesis

Title: “The Role of the Object and Purpose in Treaty Law”

PhD Supervisor: Marcelo Kohen, Andrew Clapham and Fernando Lusa Bordin

Expected completion date: 2026

The number of international agreements agreed upon by states grows from year to year, thus incrementally shaping our lives. Within the realm of treaties, a notion having an unsuspected impact on the operation of international treaties is the notion of object and purpose (O&P). The O&P is enshrined in multiple provisions in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT, 1969) and the Vienna Conventions of 1978 and 1986. This notion is best known as an element to be considered at the time of interpreting a treaty. Apart from interpretation itself, the identification of the O&P also determines whether states can undertake specific actions, e.g., whether they can suspend or terminate a treaty’s application, whether they can register reservations, whether a newly independent state will ipso jure become party to treaties that were in force before its independence, etc.

The scholarship on treaty law is one of the wealthiest fields of international law, yet the treatment of the notion of O&P remains either superficial or fragmentary. However, this notion has the potential to wield surprising power and influence in hermeneutics and treaties’ operation more broadly. Given the treatment of the O&P so far in international legal theory, this thesis aims to assess and clarify the importance, role, uses, and treatment of the notion of O&P by assessing, first, the practice of international courts and tribunals and, second, that of states. The project aims not only to theorise what the treatment of the O&P should be but also to analyse and report the state of positive law vis-à-vis the O&P and interpretation. One of the broader objectives of this thesis is to contribute to providing more legal stability and increasing the understanding of interpreters, practitioners and states of the notion of O&P, as well as guiding and guiding them at the time of applying, interpreting and terminating treaties. 
 

Profile

André-Philippe Ouellet is an international law PhD Candidate at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, a Swiss National Science Foundation Doc. Ch researcher and a doctoral fellow of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. His PhD research focuses on the notion and role of the object and purpose in treaty law (operation, interpretation and termination).

André-Philippe completed stays as a visiting researcher at the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law and at the Lauterpacht Centre, Cambridge University (King’s College). He was Mahmoud Hmoud's legal assistant while he chaired the International Law Commission and worked for law professors in Geneva and Montreal.

André-Philippe also coached the Graduate Institute’s Jessup team in 2021, 2022, and 2023 and remains involved in organizing the Charles Rousseau Moot Court Competition, which he won in 2019. His publications and communications (in English, French, and Spanish) mostly cover international economic law, international organisations, and human rights law, including self-determination. 
 

Research Interests

• Treaty Interpretation
• Public International Law
• Treaty Regimes
• International Organizations
• Territorial and Maritime Dispute
• Sovereignty
• Self-Determination

Relevant Publications and Works

• ‘Decolonisation and Self-Determination à Géométrie Variable: The Forgotten Vicissitudes of Post-Soviet Peoples’ (2024) 66 German Yearbook of International Law 1.

• ‘The International Energy Agency at 50: The Astounding Environmental Shift From an Organization Focused on Fossil Energy Supply to a Clean Energy Authority’ in G. Marceau and H. Gött (eds), Oxford University Press, 221 (forthcoming in 2025). 

• ‘Les organisations internationales et les moyens de leur pertinence : le cas de l’ONU, du FMI et de l’OMC’ (March-April 2024), 126 Diplomatie Magazine. 

• ‘Le droit du développement, un cheminement bien personnel : évolution et accroissement de ce corpus de normes à la Banque mondiale grâce aux initiatives d’anciens Présidents du groupe de la Banque mondiale’ (2024) (With G. Marceau) in P-F. Mercure, et al. (eds.) Le droit international du développement : évolution ou révolution? Hommage au professeur Hervé Cassan, Paris, Pedone, 29.

• "Vladimir-Đuro Degan" (2023), in F. Latty (ed.), Galerie des internationalistes, Société française pour le droit international (forthcoming on SFDI’s website). 

• ‘IGOs’ Initiatives in Times of Crisis and Unforeseen Needs’ (2022) (With N. Bonucci, G. Marceau and R. Walker), 19:2 International Organization Law Review 423.

• “Assisting Uzbekistan’s Parliament with Specific Issues Pertaining to Uzbekistan’s WTO Accession Process” (with I. Baftijari and A. Lim) TradeLab/Graduate Institute Papers. (Available: https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/library/publications-institute/assisti…). 

•  ‘L’objet et le but particulier en matière d’interprétation’ (2021) Graduate Institute, Sup. Pr. M. Kohen (non-published; available: https://repository.graduate institute.ch/.

• “L’exception de sécurité du GATT sous le prisme des surtaxes américaines sur l’acier et l’aluminium : une analyse à l’aune du rapport du Groupe spécial dans l’affaire Russie – Trafic en transit” (2019) (with M. Foucault and S. Warnier) 32:2 Quebec Journal of International Law 243.

•  “L’échapper belle, AMPA ou MPIA : Quatre lettres au secours du système de règlement des différends à l’OMC” (2019) (with N. Gervais) 32:2 Quebec Journal International Law 29.

• Podcast on the role of the MPIA in the WTO (2021) (With Genevieve Dufour, Richard Ouellet and Julien Sylvestre-Fleury) in collaboration with the Mission of Canada in Geneva and the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in International Trade and Investment (CISITI) of Laval University in Quebec)

• Podcast on the American Tariffs on Steel and Aluminium and the GATT’s Security Exceptions (With Petros Mavroidis, Mael Foucault and Stella Warnier). (Forthcoming on QJIL’s website). 

• "Assisting Uzbekistan’s Parliament with Specific Issues Pertaining to Uzbekistan’s WTO Accession Process” (with Iljir Baftijari And Ayong Lim) TradeLab/Graduate Institute Papers.

• Book Review of Malgosia Fitzmaurice and Panos Merkouris, Treaties in Motion: The Evolution of Treaties from Formation to Termination, (2020) 57 Canadian Yearbook of International Law 1.
   

Events 

 

• Organisation of the "International Law Theme Day: Law of Treaties and Teleology, Seminar for Young Scholars and Colloquium" (21 November 2024). Sponsors: Swiss National Science Foundation,  Conférence universitaire de Suisse occidentale, Global Governance Centre (IHEID) and International Law Department (IHEID), total funding CHF 7500. See: https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/communications/events/international-law-theme-day-seminar-treaty-law-colloquium-law-treaties-and 

• Co-organisation of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law 2024 Easter Term Roundtables (with James Simeon and Yacouba-Sylla Koïta). 

• Co-organizer of a Symposium on “Initiatives of Intergovernmental Organizations as a Response to Crises and Unforeseen Needs” (with N. Bonucci, G. Marceau and R. Walker), University of Geneva, 28–29 August 2022. Total funding: CHF 33,500. See:https://www.unige.ch/droit/files/8616/5632/4943/Opening_Panel_Flyer.pdf
  
   

Fellowships, Grants and Awards
 

• Scholarship from the Graduate Institute (2019-2021).
• Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (PhD).
• Semi-Finalist of the J.H. Jackson Moot Court Competition in WTO Law as Team Captain of The Graduate Institute’s team.
• Winner of Matthieu-Bernard (Jacques Yvan Morin) International Law Essay Competition, for an essay on the GATT security exception.
• Winning team of Concours Rousseau’s Final; Best Orator of the Grand Final and 5th overall best Orator during qualifying series as a member of UQAM’s team.