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GO131: International Relations Professor Walter Hatch Colby College International Law

GO131: International Relations Professor Walter Hatch Colby College International Law. Two Questions. What is international law? Does such a thing really exist? How is international law enforced? Isn’t it really just a matter of power politics?. Question One: What IS International Law?.

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GO131: International Relations Professor Walter Hatch Colby College International Law

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  1. GO131: International Relations Professor Walter Hatch Colby College International Law

  2. Two Questions • What is international law? • Does such a thing really exist? • How is international law enforced? • Isn’t it really just a matter of power politics?

  3. Question One:What IS International Law?

  4. Realists say…

  5. Blame it on Hugo(Grotius)

  6. Defining International Law • Traditional: the rules determining the conduct of states in their dealings with one other • Increasingly, though, individuals and corporations – not just states – viewed as subjects of international law • Newer: the body of rules and principles, formal and informal, operating at the international rather than national level

  7. Sources of International Law • Explicit agreements (Treaties, conventions, protocols) • UN Charter • Geneva Convention • Kyoto Protocol • Customary Law (like “common law”) • Widespread, representative and consistent practice of states • Norms (general principles of morality and justice) • UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights

  8. Areas of International Law diplomacy war environment human rights

  9. War • When is it legal? • “just wars” versus wars of aggression • What conduct is legal? • No chemical or biological weapons; no land mines • Non-combatants should not be targeted • Excessive force should be avoided • POWs

  10. Diplomacy • Diplomatic recognition and immunity • Embassies as sovereign territory

  11. Human Rights • New and controversial area • How do you define it? • Infringes on national sovereignty • Broad political rights • Helsinki Accords (1970s) • U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) • U.N. Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) • U.N. Convention Against Torture (1984) • Rights of threatened groups • U.N. Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (1965) • U.N. Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women/CEDAW (1979) • U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) • Genocide (1948 convention) • Rwanda • Bosnia • Sudan?

  12. U.S. and Human Rights • Champion? • Led campaign for rights in Soviet Union, then China • Hypocrite? • U.S. trained torturers during Cold War; and used torture at Guantanamo and in Iraq • Targets counter that U.S. itself has largest number of prisoners; a vast population of poor and homeless; persistent racism • U.S. hasn’t ratified many human rights conventions • Economic, social and cultural rights • Elimination of discrimination against women • Rights of child

  13. Superpower Exceptionalism • Not just on human rights conventions • U.S. also has not ratified • ILO conventions on labor rights (1950s) • CTBT • Convention on the Law of the Seas • Land Mine treaty • Global Warming (Kyoto) protocol

  14. Question Two:How is it enforced?

  15. Supranational Enforcement? Well, no … not really

  16. Option #1International Court of Justice

  17. ICJ = World Court • A branch of the UN • meets in The Hague (Netherlands) • 15 judges • serving nine-year terms • selected by UN • Hears cases brought by states against other states • Example: border disputes (Honduras v. El Salvador) • Jurisdiction? Shaky • U.S. and mining of Nicaragua’s harbor (1986)

  18. Option #2National Courts • U.S. courts • Individuals can play, too • High jury awards • Greater enforcement power • Belgian courts • Human rights cases (Geneva conventions) • Spanish courts (Judge Baltasar Garzón) • The Pinochet case

  19. Option #3The Court of Public Opinion • This is also called “shaming” • NGOs • International media • And it often works!

  20. An Example of Shaming:Canada and Harp Seal Pups

  21. So who’s right? Realists or Liberals?

  22. Realists are Right • The powerful prevail • Especially on security issues • Example: International Criminal Court • New permanent court (2003) in The Hague • 18 judges • Will replace ad hoc war crimes tribunals, hearing cases brought against individuals for crimes against humanity • U.S. won’t participate

  23. U.S. and the ICC • U.S. secured U.N. resolution exempting U.S. nationals from ICC jurisdiction for crimes committed during UN operations • U.S. demanded that other states enter into bilateral agreements promising not to surrender U.S. nationals to the ICC • Clinton signed treaty on 12/31/2000; Bush took unusual step of “unsigning” on 3/6/2002

  24. Then again …maybe the Liberals are right • To back out of the ICC, GWB actually followed another international treaty • Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties requires signatories to “refrain from acts that would defeat the object and purpose” of a treaty. • Bush’s “unsigning” (by announcing U.S. intent not to ratify) cleared the U.S. from the obligations of the Vienna Convention

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