11 law of treaties. The true unity of the law of treaties, in the framework of Public International Law, would be better served by the search for improvement in this area, overcoming the ambiguities, uncertainties and lacunae of the present system of reservations, through the development of a system of objective determination (supra), in conformity with the special nature of human rights treaties and the objective character of the conventional obligations of protection. The unity of Public International Law itself is measured rather by its aptitude to regulate legal relations in distinct contexts with equal adequacy and effectiveness. 30. Despite of what happened in the present Blake case, in which the terms of acceptance by the respondent State of the contentious jurisdiction of the Court brought about the decomposition of the crime of forced disappearance of person (with direct consequences for the reparations to the injured party), there is no reason for desperation, for not existing juridical impossibility of achieving the humanization of the law of treaties. Thus, to quote one example in this sense, in providing for the conditions in which a breach of a treaty can result in its termination or the suspension of its application, the two Vienna Conventions on the Law of Treaties expressly and specifically exclude "the provisions relating to the protection of the human person contained in treaties of a humanitarian character" (Article 60(5)). 31. This provision resulted from a proposal submitted by Switzerland, in the second session of the Vienna Conference (1969) which adopted the first Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Its purpose was that of pointing out that the treaties of a humanitarian character have a special nature, do not exist for the sole benefit of the States, and transcend the reciprocity between the Parties in incorporating obligations of protection of an absolute character 29. Such provision (Article 60(5)), together with those concerning jus cogens (Articles 53 and 64), represent what exists of most progressive in the Vienna Convention, fostering, ultimately, the very moralization of the law of treaties 30. 32. Besides constituting a true clause of safeguard in defense of the human being, the provision of Article 60(5) of the two above-mentioned Vienna Conventions pierces the stronghold (previously exclusive) of inter-State relations in the framework of the law of treaties, and recognizes the special nature of the treaties of a humanitarian character with all its juridical consequences. Such recognition is strengthened by the assertion, in the preamble of the two Vienna Conventions, of the principle of universal respect and observance of human rights (sixth paragraph of the Preamble), to be taken into account in the interpretation of the Vienna Conventions of 1969 31 and 1986 themselves. There is no reason for this evolution to 29. I.M. Sinclair, The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Manchester, University Press/Oceana, 1973, pp. 104-105; and cf. G.E. do Nascimento e Silva, Conferência de Viena sobre o Direito dos Tratados, Rio de Janeiro, M.R.E., 1971, pp. 80-81; E. de la Guardia y M. Delpech, El Derecho de los Tratados y la Convención de Viena, Buenos Aires, La Ley, 1970, pp. 458 and 454; F. Capotorti, "Il Diritto dei Trattati Secondo la Convenzione di Vienna", Convenzione di Vienna sul Diritto dei Trattati, Padova, Cedam, 1984, p. 61. 30. P. Reuter, La Convention de Vienne sur le Droit des Traités, Paris, Libr. A. Colin, 1970, pp. 21-23. 31. E. Schwelb, "The Law of Treaties and Human Rights", in Toward World Order and Human Dignity - Essays in Honor of M.S. McDougal (eds. W.M. Reisman and B.H. Weston), N.Y./London, Free Press/Collier Macmillan, 1976, pp. 263 and 265.

Select target paragraph3