Peace agreements are agreements that end an armed confrontation between two nations.
An agreement is an understanding, compromise or pact reached by two or more parties. Peace , on the other hand, is the situation that exists when there is no war or a persistent state of violence.
The notion of a peace agreement , therefore, refers to the agreement signed by the authorities of two nations that were engaged in a war . By establishing a peace agreement, the parties undertake not to carry out new attacks and to respect the criteria established in the resolution in question.
Establishment of a peace agreement
Peace agreements, also known as peace treaties , mark the end point of war . There are, however, other tools that can interrupt the confrontation, such as the truce known as ceasefire or surrender .
It is also important to keep in mind that, in certain armed confrontations, peace agreements are very difficult to achieve if one of the opposing sides does not represent any State . In this way, if a State signs a peace agreement with the other party, it would be conferring a status similar to its own.
Peace agreements can establish border limits and establish prohibited conduct, for example.
Search for consensus
Beyond what a peace agreement formally entails, it is common for wars to be resolved in complex and extensive processes . Thus, those involved in the conflict take various steps until peace is reached and the corresponding agreement is signed.
The distribution and access to resources, the establishment of border limits, the establishment of prohibited actions and conduct, and the situation of prisoners and refugees are some of the issues that are usually defined through peace agreements.
The peace agreements and the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
On May 23, 1969, the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties was signed, although it was not until January 27, 1980 that it came into force .
The elaboration of this Convention was carried out by an international conference that met in Vienna, and there they worked based on a project that had taken the United Nations International Law Commission more than fifteen years of planning. The purpose of this Convention was to codify customary international law and, at the same time, ensure that it could be developed progressively.
The following definition of a treaty can be found in the second article of this Convention: it is an international agreement concluded by two or more States in writing and which is governed by international law, whether recorded in a single instrument or in a minimum of two, related, and regardless of their particular denomination.
This brings us to a point mentioned in a previous paragraph: peace agreements can only be signed between States . It should be noted, on the other hand, that the definition just presented does not include agreements between a State and international organizations (among other subjects that also enjoy international law), between two of these subjects or agreements that are not reflected in written.
Something important to keep in mind is that the effect of this Convention is not retroactive : in other words, this means that it can only apply to treaties that have been concluded from the moment it entered into force, and not to those that had place previously.
The United Nations signed this Convention anticipating the importance of the parties involved asserting the rights contained therein. For this reason, in various of its articles , which are not contained in the same chapter or ordered in a particular way, the resources and actions before an arbitrator or judge are established.