What Makes a Treaty Binding

Treaties bind under international law through consent expressed by competent authorities, ratification, and registration with the UN under Article 102 of the Charter. The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969 governs interpretation and validity.

Reservations, withdrawals, and material breach all have rules. The difference between a treaty, a convention, a pact, and an accord is mostly naming fashion, the legal force is the same.

The hardest question is not law but enforcement.