Unfulfilled treaty obligations

A new international anarchy has arisen in recent years that defies international decisions on treaty provisions, specifically those initiated and/or made by the United Nations. This lack of adherence to a previously agreed upon decision-making body threatens to undermine security on both national and international levels.

In 1982, the Secretary-General of the UN stated that the UN Security Council often found itself unable to take decisive action to resolve international conflicts, and even its unanimous resolutions were "increasingly defied or ignored by those that feel themselves strong enough to do so". He observed that sterner measures for world peace were envisaged in the UN Charter, but that the prospect of realizing them now was virtually impossible, due to divisions within the international community.

Specific incidents of non-compliance include Lebanon and the Middle East crisis; the Iran-Iraq war; Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and American assistance to the resistance; Vietnamese invasion of Kampuchea; and the Cyprus situation.

In 1998, before a rebuke from its Foreign Affairs Minister, Belgium had not implemented 205 pieces of European legislation, a non-implementation rate of 8.5 percent. Only Italy had a worse record. One of the main reasons for the lengthy delays in making EU directives law is Belgium's complex federal structure.