International treaties, administered by the United Nations, date back to 1258 BC. The Geneva Conventions, signed in 1864, deal with the treatment of casualties, prisoners of war, and civilians during warfare. Other notable treaties include the Antarctic Treaty, the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Major treaties regarding weapons of mass destruction and military buildup include the Biological Weapons Convention, the Chemical Weapons Convention, and the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.
There are hundreds of international treaties currently in effect, with participation ranging from two states to more than 95% of all nations on Earth. Many modern treaties are administered under the auspices of the United Nations. Some treaties are associated with independent monitoring bodies whose mission is to ensure that the treaty is respected.
International treaties date back to at least 1258 BC, when Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II and Hittite monarch Hattusili III entered into a peace agreement in the wake of the Battle of Kadesh, the largest chariot battle in history. Originally inscribed on a silver tablet, a fragmentary clay copy survives to this day and can be seen at the Istanbul Archeology Museum.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of international treaties were signed in the ancient world, in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance, mainly to end wars, make territorial agreements and ensure economic and military support between allies.
One of the most cited international treaties today is the Geneva Conventions. There have been four Geneva Conventions, in 1864, 1906, 1929, and 1949. The Geneva Conventions deal with the treatment of battlefield casualties, prisoners of war, and civilians during warfare. The Geneva Conventions provide a diplomatic framework to protect non-combatants and allow for the recovery of the battlefield wounded, by designated groups bearing the emblem of the Red Cross, Red Crescent or Red Crystal.
The international treaty known as the United Nations Charter established the United Nations in 1945, in the wake of World War II. This was followed by the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949, establishing the NATO military alliance, and the Treaty of London in the same year, establishing the Council of Europe. 1955 saw the signing of the Warsaw Pact, a famous alliance between Eastern European states and the Soviet Union that contributed to the start of the Cold War.
In 1959, the Antarctic Treaty was signed, which designated Antarctica as a research area, prohibiting military activity there and dividing it into sections for several dozen countries. In 1961, the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness was signed, designed to implement policies that would protect people without nationality. In 1963, the famous Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed, banning all nuclear tests except underground ones, followed by the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 1972, designed to limit the deployment of ballistic missiles, and the of threshold tests in 1974 which banned tests of all nuclear weapons with a yield of more than 150 kilotons. All of these treaties had important implications for the Cold War. 1996 saw the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, intended to ban nuclear explosions worldwide for any purpose, but it has not yet been ratified and requires countries such as the United States, North Korea and Iran to sign before that it enters into force.
Several major international treaties have been signed regarding weapons of mass destruction and military buildup. These include the Biological Weapons Convention, the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.
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