ABSTRACT
Reservations and declarations play an important role in the Istanbul Convention. So far almost half of the 45 States (and the European Union) that have signed the Convention have decided to formulate a reservation and/or an interpretative declaration. Some States have objected to the reservations and declarations. Against this background, this chapter summarises the evolution of international law governing reservations to human rights treaties, and presents the partially unique system of reservations established by the Istanbul Convention. The chapter also analyses and critically appraises States’ practice under the Convention. It gives special attention to the practice of some States (Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland) to formulate vaguely-worded interpretative declarations with reference to domestic law. The chapter concludes that the Convention’s silence on this issue is most unfortunate.
