Canadian Centre for Treaty Compliance

About the Centre

The Canadian Centre for Treaty Compliance

The Canadian Centre for Treaty Compliance (CCTC) was established in February 2005 as an organized research unit in the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) at Carleton University in Ottawa. The Centre is the only one of its kind, university-based or otherwise, to have treaty compliance as the focus of its research. The aim of the Centre is to conduct policy-oriented research into the theory and practice of compliance in respect of international treaties, resolutions, agreements and arrangements. Its working assumption is that compliance is the bedrock of international law and that all states, from the most powerful to the most disadvantaged, are obliged to comply with their international legal obligations. This includes obligations they have freely undertaken and those which have been imposed on them by an authorized international body, such as the United Nations Security Council or the International Court of Justice.

The Centre's Research Covers

• compliance or non-compliance by individual treaty parties with their treaty obligations;
• management by international organizations of treaty monitoring, verification, implementation and  compliance; and,
• the challenges that face the international community in dealing with treaty violations.

Particular attention is paid to the technical and other means by which compliance is monitored and verified and the effectiveness and efficiency of institutional arrangements for encouraging, facilitating, inducing and enforcing compliance. The Centre is initially focusing on arms control, disarmament and nonproliferation treaties concerned with nuclear, radiological, chemical and biological weapons, as well as outer space security. The Centre's research is published externally and in-house, including the Compliance Chronicles research report series launched in August 2005.

The Centre's work is intended to be multidisciplinary and collaborative and active both internationally and Canada-wide. Collaborators include Canadian government departments and agencies, other governments, international organizations such as the United Nations and its subsidiary organs, civil society, universities and other research institutes. As a part of NPSIA, the Centre is also involved in teaching graduate courses within the Master's program.

About the Centre Logo

The logo implies dynamism and a sense of urgency, progress and evolution, and unity of purpose. While there is physical symmetry between the projectile-shaped elements, the tones draw attention to differences between the elements (states parties or treaty provisions). The prominent red segment represents the Centre, in terms of spearheading efforts to ensure compliance.

Logo design by Richard Jones, Exile: Design & Editorial Services