Fortunately, it proved possible to work within the fudged alternative framework of a "legally binding instrument".
The proposal recommended a conference be held next year to negotiate "a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination".
In December, the Kampala convention, the world's first legally binding instrument to outline the obligations of governments to protect and assist IDPs, came into force.
That is why the UN human rights council's rather marginalised efforts to develop an international legally binding instrument on transnational corporations needs stronger recognition.
More importantly, though, the Durban meeting also started the international community down the road of all nations working together subject to one legally binding instrument to cut emissions.
There will be plenty of argument over whether this is a treaty or a protocol or a binding instrument with legal force.
A UN conference in July could lead to a new treaty that would harmonise and, where necessary, toughen up laws governing the sale of arms "into one comprehensive, legally binding instrument".
"This agreement is not intended to create any legally enforceable rights and shall not be construed to be either an international agreement or a legally binding instrument according to international law," the document says.
The majority of the world's nations will gather at the United Nations in New York at the end of March to begin negotiating a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons.
A "joint legally binding instrument" was agreed to under which Britain could initiate a "formal dispute" with the EU if the EU were to attempt to keep Britain bound to the backstop plan indefinitely.
We now have the Kyoto protocol going into its second commitment period, whereby 10 to 12percentt of global emissions would be under a legally binding instrument that regulates those emissions.
