PhD Thesis
Title: “The Role of the Object and Purpose in Treaty Interpretation: An Enigma … to Elucidate”
PhD Supervisor: Marcelo Kohen
Expected completion date: 2025
Interpreting treaties is necessary to define the scope of treaty obligations undertaken by states. The number of international agreements contracted by states grows from year to year, thus incrementally shaping our lives. The interpretation process, hence, has a very concrete impact on how governments assume treaty obligations and in fine on how government policies affect the public’s life. The interpreter has thus a great role to play given its role in shedding light on treaty provisions. One of the most flexible “tools” available to reach a “desired” interpretation is the notion of object and purpose (O&P) enshrined in the interpretation rule (Art. 31) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT). Apart from interpretation itself, the identification of the O&P also determines states’ possibilities for registering reservations or modifying treaties.
The scholarship on interpretation is one of the wealthiest fields of international law, yet the treatment of the notion of O&P remains either superficial or fragmentary. The notion has the potential to wield surprising power and influence in hermeneutics; however, it remains mainly unaddressed. Given the treatment of the O&P so far in the 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 interpretation 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 and practitioners of the notion of O&P, as well as guiding and orientating them at the time of interpreting treaties.
Accordingly, the thesis aims to fill the literature and information gap by providing a cogent analysis of the international practice with regard to the notion of O&P. The two materials of this study, the decisions of courts and international tribunals as well as state practice, will thus be assessed in a comparative fashion to ascertain the O&P’s field of possibilities. Thereafter, the data will serve to shape an understanding of the O&P by clarifying the admitted uses of the O&P notion in light of positive law and its uses de lege ferenda.
Research Interests
- Treaty Interpretation
- Public International Law
- Treaty Regimes
- International Organizations
- Territorial and Maritime Dispute
- Sovereignty
- Self-Determination
Relevant Publications and Works
1. “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.
2. “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.
3. 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)
4. 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).
5. "Assisting Uzbekistan's Parliament with Specific Issues Pertaining to Uzbekistan's WTO Accession Process” (with Iljir Baftijari And Ayong Lim) TradeLab/Graduate Institute Papers.
6. 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.
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.