The Diplomat
The reform that allows international treaties to be registered in Spanish came into force on 1 February, according to a note from the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
The reform was adopted by consensus by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December last by means of resolution 76/120, after months of negotiations and at the proposal of the Spanish-speaking countries and Portugal.
Since 1 February, States and international organisations can add a courtesy translation in one of the other four official languages of the United Nations (Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese) to the official English or French version when registering a treaty. The official UN register of treaties used until now only English and French.
The registration of treaties is a flagship activity of the organisation, which it inherited from the League of Nations and which pursues international relations based on law and transparency and far removed from secret diplomacy.
With this reform, Spanish and the other official languages of the United Nations contribute to the predominance of law in international relations.
Spain and the Spanish-speaking States, which make up the Group of Friends of Spanish at the United Nations, will continue to work so that in the future the Register of Treaties will include Spanish among its official languages, according to the Foreign Affairs communiqué.
