Treaty compliance mechanisms - a reading list for INB8

As the Eighth Meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body for a Pandemic Accord (INB8) continues, discussions and negotiations around pandemic treaty governance, including compliance systems, will be held next week.

In the past three years, we have reviewed existing treaty compliance mechanisms. Below is a list of our reports with some recommendations to focus on if the time doesn’t permit a thorough read:

1) Our first report (2021)?explores 19 compliance mechanisms with a mandate to?review state compliance with an international treaty or conduct independent country investigations. The report describes, for example, peer or external review mechanisms and in-country visits that support state compliance with human rights, climate, or atomic energy treaties.

• We recommend reviewing Chapters 2-3 (pp. 4-10) that describe the existing review and investigation mechanisms in detail and Chapter 5 (pp. 2-14) that summarizes the key takeaways.

2) Our second report (2022) describes?design elements for treaty monitoring?based on lessons learned from WHO FCTC and other international treaties.

• Chapter 3 (pp. 6-12) analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of FCTC compliance and the best practices for monitoring other treaties that could be useful for developing the accountability system for the pandemic treaty.
• Check also the summary table (p. 30) that provides a simple outline of the key elements of eight bodies/organizations that monitor international treaties.?

3) Our latest report (2023), building on the evidence from the two previous reports, outlines draft Terms of Reference for a Pandemic Agreement Independent Monitoring Committee. The report is quite detailed, so we recommend starting with?our policy brief?that summarizes the key points.??

We have also summarized the key takeaways from the reports in Lancet, BMJ?and?Lancet Global Health.