Commitment: the state or quality of being dedicated to a principle or cause and/or related action implementing that principle or advancing that cause. A commitment is an expression of willingness to give ​time, ​energy, effort, money, or other good or service, or to desist/refrain a particular action, in order to achieve an outcome consistent with a ​belief or preference of the committing party (natural or legal person). To the observer, a commitment is a ​promise or ​firm ​decision on the part of the committing party to do something predictably consistent with the expression of commitment. Following the expression of commitment, other parties rely on the committing party to fulfill it.                                         

A commitment implies a voluntary predisposition to be followed with consistent action (positive commitment) or desisting from particular action (negative commitment). In international law, a commitment may take the form of a “declaration,” “basic principles,” “minimum rules,” “code of conduct” or other instrument of declaratory law (soft law, or lex feranda) that does not impose an explicitly binding obligation subject to monitoring, review or enforcement by a body or mechanism legally authorized for the purpose of determining compliance with a commitment, or penalty to the committing party in the event of its failure to fulfill the commitment.