PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/Treaty or international agreement

How to Cite a Treaty or International Convention in APA 7

An APA 7 reference for a treaty or international convention gives the treaty's full name, the date it was signed or adopted written out as month, day, and year, the treaty series citation if you have it (like 1577 U.N.T.S. 3), and the URL, all separated by commas, with nothing in italics. The in-text citation is the treaty's name and the year: (Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989).

The format

Name of Treaty or Convention, Month Day, Year, Volume Series Page, URL

PERRLA APA Experts · Updated October 22, 2026
Checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Choose International Conventions & Treaties (under Legal References). There are no kinds to pick: it's one form for every treaty, convention, and international agreement. Fill in Convention or Treaty Title, Signing or Approval Date, and the URL, and you have the reference APA shows.

Want the full legal citation? Type the series abbreviation in Published Location Source (UNTS, UST, or Stat), then the Source Volume Number and the Source Page Number where the treaty starts. PERRLA writes it the legal way, 1577 U.N.T.S. 3, with the periods added for you. For an agreement between two or three countries, put them in Parties / Countries Subject to the Treaty, joined by a hyphen, like U.S.-Mex. PERRLA spells out the month, writes n.d. when there's no date, and ends the reference with a period when there's no link.

PERRLA can't look up a treaty by its name or citation. Pasting a treaty's web page into the reference search builds a webpage reference, not a treaty reference, so add treaties with the form.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same reference by hand.

The parts of the reference

1. Name of the treaty

Start with the treaty's full official name, exactly as the treaty text gives it, in title case. Don't italicize it and don't put it in quotation marks. Legal references in APA follow the legal citation format (The Bluebook), and treaty names stay in plain type.

Convention on the Rights of the Child

There's no author. Don't list the United Nations, the World Health Organization, or the countries as the author: the treaty's name takes the author's place, in the reference and in the in-text citation.

2. Countries (two or three parties only)

For an agreement between two or three countries, add the countries after the name, abbreviated and joined by a hyphen. Skip this part for a multilateral convention open to every country, like the U.N. human rights treaties.

U.S.-Mex.

3. Date signed or adopted

Give the full date the treaty was signed or adopted, written out as month, day, and year. Use that date, not the date the treaty entered into force or the date a country ratified it. A U.N. convention takes the date the General Assembly or conference adopted it.

November 20, 1989

The date isn't in parentheses. It follows the name, set off with a comma.

4. Treaty series citation

If you know where the treaty is officially printed, add the volume, the series abbreviation, and the page where the treaty starts. The ones students meet most are U.N.T.S. (United Nations Treaty Series), U.S.T. (United States Treaties and Other International Agreements), and Stat. (United States Statutes at Large, for older U.S. treaties).

1577 U.N.T.S. 3

APA's own treaty example leaves this part out and ends with the link, so it's optional for most papers. Find the volume and page on the treaty's United Nations Treaty Collection page, or in the U.S. State Department's Treaties in Force for treaties the United States has joined.

5. URL

End with a link to the treaty's text, such as the U.N. human rights office's page or the depositary's site. Don't put a period after it. If you read the treaty in print and have no link, end after the date or the treaty series citation with a period.

https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child

Examples

A U.N. convention, in APA's basic form

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on November 20, 1989, and read on the U.N. human rights office's site. This is the form APA's own example uses: name, date, and link. Article 24 covers children's right to health care, so the in-text citation points to it.

  • Parenthetical citation(Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, art. 24)
  • Narrative citationthe Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989, art. 24)

A U.N. convention with its U.N.T.S. citation

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, printed in volume 2515 of the United Nations Treaty Series, starting on page 3. Watch the date: the U.N. human rights office's page lists December 12, 2006, but the United Nations Treaty Collection and the U.N. disability office both give December 13, 2006, the day the General Assembly adopted it. When two pages disagree, go with the Treaty Collection.

  • Parenthetical citation(Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006)
  • Narrative citationthe Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006)

A global health treaty

The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, adopted by the World Health Assembly on May 21, 2003. It entered into force in 2005, but the reference takes the adoption date. WHO is part of the name here, not an author.

  • Parenthetical citation(WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, 2003)
  • Narrative citationthe WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (2003)

A treaty in U.S.T., read in print

The first Geneva Convention of 1949, which protects the wounded and sick and the medical personnel who care for them. The U.S. State Department lists it at 6 U.S.T. 3114. Read in a printed treaty volume, with no link, the reference ends with a period after the series citation.

  • Parenthetical citation(Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field, 1949)
  • Narrative citationthe Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field (1949)

An agreement between two countries

The 1944 water treaty between the United States and Mexico, which governs the Colorado River, the Tijuana River, and the Rio Grande, signed in Washington on February 3, 1944, and printed at 59 Stat. 1219. With only two parties, the countries go after the name. The link is the International Boundary and Water Commission's copy.

  • Parenthetical citation(Treaty Relating to the Utilization of Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande, 1944)
  • Narrative citationthe Treaty Relating to the Utilization of Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande (1944)

In-text citations

An APA 7 in-text citation for a treaty gives the treaty's name and the year it was signed or adopted. The name stays in plain type, just as in the reference.

  • Parenthetical: (Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989)
  • Narrative: the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) recognizes every child's right to health care.
  • A specific article: add it after the year with the abbreviation art.: (Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, art. 24)
  • No date: use n.d. in place of the year, though nearly every treaty has a signing or adoption date you can find.

Use the year only in the citation, even though the reference gives the full date. There's no author name and no et al., because the treaty's name takes the author's place.

Common mistakes

  • (United Nations, 1989)(Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989)A treaty has no author in APA. The treaty's name goes first in the reference and in the in-text citation, even when a U.N. agency hosts the text.
  • Convention on the Rights of the Child, November 20, 1989Convention on the Rights of the Child, November 20, 1989Treaty names aren't italicized in APA legal references or in the text of your paper.
  • Convention on the Rights of the Child. (1989).Convention on the Rights of the Child, November 20, 1989,Legal references don't use the book layout. The full date follows the name after a comma, with no parentheses.
  • Convention on the Rights of the Child, September 2, 1990,Convention on the Rights of the Child, November 20, 1989,Use the date the treaty was signed or adopted, not the date it entered into force or the date a country ratified it.
  • United Nations Treaty Series, vol. 1577, p. 31577 U.N.T.S. 3Treaty series take the legal short form: volume, abbreviation, and first page, with no italics and no vol. or p.

Quick checklist

  • The treaty's full official name, in plain type, with no author
  • The two or three countries after the name, only for agreements between that few
  • The full date it was signed or adopted, not the entry-into-force date
  • Volume, series abbreviation, and first page (1577 U.N.T.S. 3), if you have them
  • The link last, with no period after it, or a period if there's no link
  • In text: the treaty's name and the year, plus art. and a number for one article

Questions students ask

Which date do I use for a treaty in APA?

Use the date the treaty was signed or adopted. For a U.N. convention, that's the day the General Assembly or conference adopted it: November 20, 1989, for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Don't use the date it entered into force or the date a country ratified it. The treaty's page on the United Nations Treaty Collection lists the adoption date first.

Do I need the U.N.T.S. or U.S.T. citation?

Not usually. APA's own treaty example gives only the name, the date, and the link. The treaty series citation comes from the full legal format APA follows, so add it when your instructor wants the complete legal citation or you read the treaty in a printed volume with no link.

How do I cite a specific article of a treaty?

List the whole treaty once on your references page, then name the article in the in-text citation: (Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, art. 24). The full legal format also lets a reference name one article, after the countries and before the date, when that article is the only part you cite. In PERRLA, that's the Cited Subdivision field.

Do I cite a treaty as a webpage if I read it on the U.N. website?

No. Use the treaty format and put the U.N. page's link at the end. The website is just where you read it. The treaty's name, not the site, leads the reference.

Does it matter whether my country ratified the treaty?

No. The reference looks the same either way. The United States signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child but never ratified it, and you cite it exactly as shown here. If ratification matters to your argument, say so in your sentence.

Do I list the countries that signed it?

Only for an agreement between two or three countries, like U.S.-Mex. Multilateral conventions with dozens or hundreds of parties, like the U.N. human rights treaties, list no countries at all.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Chapter 11 (legal references), including Sections 11.1–11.3 and its treaties and international conventions guidance and example, which follow the legal citation format of The Bluebook. Example sources verified against each treaty's United Nations Treaty Collection record (adoption dates and U.N.T.S. volumes and pages), the treaty texts on the OHCHR, WHO FCTC, ICRC, and IBWC sites, the U.N. disability office's CRPD page, the table of contents of 75 U.N.T.S., and the U.S. State Department's Treaties in Force (2026) for 6 U.S.T. 3114 and 59 Stat. 1219.

PERRLA builds the treaty reference from its name, date, and treaty series, with U.N.T.S. and U.S.T. written the legal way.

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