Treaties the Bush Administration has Rejected or Abandoned

In writing an essay on the opportunities presented by American involvement in Liberia, I just happened to query the number of treaties that the Bush administration has rejected, abandoned or refused to ratify. I didn't realize however, how many there were. Just remember, this (for the most part) has gone down in the last two to three years. Here's the list of what I could find:

1) The Kyoto Protocol
- An environment protocol to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses. Signed by 188 countries on July 32, 2001, minus the United States.

2) The International Criminal Court
- Creates a supernational criminal court to try war criminals. Ratified by 92 countries, including the United States by President Clinton. President Bush rescinded the agreement when he took office.

3) Small-Arms Trafficking
- The United States greatly weakened a convention to limit the sale of small arms. The President of the conference, Colombian Ambassador Carlos Reyes, singled out the United States saying, "While congratulating all participants for their diligence in reaching this new consensus, I must as President also express my disappointment over the Conference's inability to agree -- due to the concerns of one state -- on language recognizing the need to establish and maintain controls over private ownership of these deadly weapons, and the need for preventing sales of such arms to non-state groups."

4) Chemical Weapons Convention
- Unilaterally exempted itself from international inspections, greatly reducing the effectiveness of the convention.

5) Anti-Balistic Missle Treaty
- Withdrew from the ABM Treaty to pursue missile defence, even though it was opposed by Russia, China and most of the NATO allies and was historically the cornerstone of arms control for almost 30 years.

6) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
- Ratified by 170 countries in the world, excluding the United States and the former Taliban in Afghanistan.

7) Ottawa Convention on Landmines
- A convention banning the use of anti-personnel mines, this convention was signed by every nation in Western Hemisphere except the United States and Cuba.

8) Convention on the Rights of the Child
- Though one of the most ratified treaty in existence, the United States and Somalia are the only two countries not to have ratified it.

9) Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
- The US joins China, India, Pakistan and North Korea in not ratifying this treaty that bans the testing of nuclear weapons.