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APA 7th Referencing

American Psychological Association, 7th edition

Conventions and treaties format

Summary

A treaty is an agreement made under international law, between nations or international organisations. They are similar to contracts, in that parties make an agreement and if they do not live up to that agreement they can be held liable. A treaty can also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention, pact or exchange of letters.

Treaties can be organised either by volume or by year. See: finding the information on referencing for an annotated example of each type of treaty.   

 

Reference elements 

Screenshot of an annotated reference of a treaty 

 

In-text citation

  Format Example
Paraphrase

... (Title, Year)

OR

Title (Year) ...

... children have the right to an education (Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1990).

OR

According to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1954) ...
Quote

"..." (Title, Year, pinpoint)

OR

Title (Year, pinpoint) "..."

A child is entitled "to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health" (Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1990, art. 24.1).

OR

The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1954, art. 2) states that "every refugee has duties to the country in which he finds himself."
Note:
  • The title of the treaty should be fully capitalised and italicised in the citation.
  • Use the year in which the treaty was entered into force (i.e. the earlier of the two dates). 
  • If you are quoting from the treaty, you must add the pinpoint (i.e. specific point in the source, such as section, article etc) to the end of the citation. See pinpoint abbreviations for more information.  

 

Reference

  Format Example
Organised by volume

Title of Treaty, opened for signature Day Month Year, Volume Number Treaty Series Abbreviation Starting Page (entered into force Day Month Year)

Convention on the Rights of the Child, opened for signature 20 November 1989, 1577 UNTS 3 (entered into force 2 September 1990)
Organised by year

Title of Treaty, opened for signature Day Month Year, [Year of Volume] Treaty Series Abbreviation Starting Page or Treaty Number (entered into force Day Month Year)

Agreement between Australia and Vietnam regarding the Cyber Security Law of Vietnam, opened for signature 8 March 2018, [2019] ATS 7 (entered into force 14 January 2019)
Note:
  • Each word of the title of the treaty should be capitalised and italicised.
  • 'Opened for signature': date the treaty was signed (sometimes referred to as date of conclusion). 
  • 'Entered into force': date the treaty becomes effective (sometimes referred to as registration date).

Finding the information for referencing

Example treaty organised by volume

example of a treaty organised by volume

Example treaty organised by year

example of a treaty organised by year

Abbreviations of treaty series