CFPT CFPT - Consular Fellows Program International Law and Treaties Questions and Answers 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which of the following best describes 'exequatur'?
- A formal authorization granted by the receiving state allowing a consul to perform official functions (Correct answer)
- A diplomatic note protesting consular interference
- A treaty provision granting full diplomatic immunity to consuls
- A consular certificate required for notarial acts abroad
Correct answer: A formal authorization granted by the receiving state allowing a consul to perform official functions
Exequatur is the formal authorization issued by the receiving state that permits a foreign consul to exercise consular functions within its territory.
Question 2: The principle of 'non-refoulement' in international refugee law primarily prohibits states from:
- Granting asylum to economic migrants
- Returning refugees to a territory where they face serious threats to life or freedom (Correct answer)
- Issuing travel documents to stateless persons
- Detaining asylum seekers during status determination
Correct answer: Returning refugees to a territory where they face serious threats to life or freedom
Non-refoulement, codified in Article 33 of the 1951 Refugee Convention, bars states from returning individuals to places where they face persecution or serious harm.
Question 3: Which international body is primarily responsible for monitoring compliance with the Convention Against Torture (CAT)?
- The International Court of Justice
- The UN Human Rights Council
- The Committee Against Torture (Correct answer)
- The International Criminal Court
Correct answer: The Committee Against Torture
The Committee Against Torture (CAT Committee) is the treaty body established under the Convention Against Torture to monitor state parties' compliance.
Question 4: Under customary international law, the doctrine of 'diplomatic protection' allows a state to:
- Grant immunity to foreign diplomats accused of crimes
- Espouse the claims of its nationals injured by another state's internationally wrongful acts (Correct answer)
- Unilaterally impose sanctions on a state that harms its citizens
- Negotiate bilateral investment treaties on behalf of its corporations
Correct answer: Espouse the claims of its nationals injured by another state's internationally wrongful acts
Diplomatic protection is the mechanism by which a state formally takes up the claim of one of its nationals against another state for internationally wrongful acts.
Question 5: The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (1980) is primarily designed to:
- Prosecute parents who abduct children across borders
- Secure the prompt return of children wrongfully removed or retained in a contracting state (Correct answer)
- Establish international standards for child custody determinations
- Create an international register of missing children
Correct answer: Secure the prompt return of children wrongfully removed or retained in a contracting state
The 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention establishes a civil mechanism for the prompt return of children wrongfully removed to or retained in a contracting state.
Question 6: In international treaty law, a 'reservation' to a multilateral treaty is permissible unless:
- The treaty is bilateral
- The reservation is prohibited by the treaty, or is incompatible with its object and purpose (Correct answer)
- The depositary state objects to the reservation within 90 days
- The reserving state has not yet ratified the treaty
Correct answer: The reservation is prohibited by the treaty, or is incompatible with its object and purpose
Under Article 19 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, a reservation is impermissible if the treaty prohibits it or if it is incompatible with the treaty's object and purpose.
Question 7: Which concept in international law holds that a new state inherits the treaty obligations of its predecessor state?
- Jus cogens
- State succession (Correct answer)
- Erga omnes obligations
- Pacta sunt servanda
Correct answer: State succession
State succession addresses the extent to which a newly independent or successor state is bound by the international obligations of its predecessor, governed partly by the 1978 Vienna Convention on Succession of States in Respect of Treaties.
CFPT CFPT - Consular Fellows Program International Law and Treaties Questions and Answers 4
Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which of the following best describes 'exequatur'?