Implied Termination of International Treaties Under the Vienna Conventions on the Law of Treaties

Volume 17, Issue: 2 part 1
Summer 2026
Pages 187-204

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Al­Furat Al­Awsat Technical University Polytechnic College /Al-Qadisiyah

Abstract
International treaties represent the main source of public international law and the regulator of international relations. Without them, international relations cannot be stable and justice cannot be achieved. However, this does not mean that they are merely a rigid legal bond that imposes itself on its parties indefinitely. Rather, they are a living legal entity that begins with a will and ends with it when it fails to achieve its objectives. Therefore, the Vienna Conventions of 1969 and 1986 on the Law of Treaties established several methods for terminating an international treaty, including implied termination, which is achieved through an inferential process of the parties' intentions and actions. This makes proving implied termination of treaties more difficult compared to the other methods stipulated in the Vienna Conventions on the Law of Treaties, due to the absence of an explicit provision to which the parties can refer when they decide to end the existence of an international treaty. This method is subject to the same formal rules stipulated in the Vienna Conventions, and it entails the same consequences as explicit termination.
We will address the research in two sections. The first section is dedicated to the concept of implicit termination of international treaties through two subsections. In the first subsection, we will examine the definition of implicit termination of international treaties, and in the second subsection, we will address the nature of implicit termination of international treaties. In the second section

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  • Receive Date 05 May 2026
  • Revise Date 06 June 2026
  • Accept Date 06 June 2026