World Order- Michael Atteya

WORLD ORDER

The era of Independence

Ø  All countries rely on other countries to survive.

Ø  World Order is the study of how more and more countries are striving for independence.

Ø  Independence however is not creating a uniform world however; it is the idea that political boundaries should not limit people from receiving and sending goods and services.

Ø  However in terms of international law, there is no legal process.

Ø  World order could be considered an ideal, not an established institution.

The Legal Concepts and Features of the Legal System

The need for World Order

Warfare results in the most amount of suffering that humans can inflict on each other.

Forms of Conflict

Warfare has evolved over the centuries, though a great deal of human ingenuity.

Guerilla Warfare

Ø  Guerilla Warfare is part-time warriors fighting in small groups and not part of a large modern army.

Ø  It is the oldest form of fighting and requires the least amount of training.

Ø  Weapons used are often unsophisticated, compared to that of a modern army.

Conventional Warfare

Ø  Conventional Warfare is large, modern fighting formations, with extensive and expensive equipment.

Ø  It started though various events in the 17^th century. Mainly through the shift of power from tribal areas to the nation-state.

Ø  The industrial revolution allowed for the creation of larger and more powerful weapons.

Ø  Fighting formations became large, so it was necessary for each army to have distinctive colours on their uniforms.

Ø  Armies were now to defend the nation-state, so local enforcement had to be given to a new force, the police.

Ø  Armies became professional, and people in the armies were set apart from civilians. Access to weapons was restricted from civilians, and warfare became an exclusive right of the government.

Ø  The international humanitarian law of armed conflict (the Geneva and Hague Conventions) applied to military personnel.

Ø  For the first time ever there were professional soldiers, permanently employed.

Ø  In the first half of the 20^th century, conventional warfare went from humans killing humans, to machines killing machines, starting in WW1.

Nuclear Warfare

Ø  Nuclear warfare started around WWII, with people wanting to move firepower long distances, quickly. Bomber aircrafts were favoured in Europe.

Ø  Research continued for a more powerful bomb, which resulted in the creation of the atomic bomb. Politicians reasoned that atomic bombs would be crucial in future conflict (after Japan was bombed).

Ø  Research soon shifted from bombs to missiles.

Ø  Nuclear weapons are the cheapest way to kill in war; however, ironically they destroy too much, and destroy what one country would like to control.

Ø  Nuclear weapons are the first weapons which, cannot be stopped. They cannot be shot down.

Ø  The 1987 US-USSR agreement on intermediate nuclear forces and the 1993 US-Russia agreement on strategic nuclear weapons showed that both countries realized the limitations of nuclear warfare. The US however is still at risk due to the large amount of Russian strategic missiles.

The decline of international warfare

Ø  International warfare is now rare. The majority of warfare today is groups trying to break away from an existing country and create their own.

Ø  Another form of modern warfare is groups trying to overthrow a government and create their own.

Ø  Modern warfare may only become ‘internationalised’, by other countries intervening, or the deployment of international peacekeeping forces (UN peacekeeping forces fro example).

Expansionism

Ø  Expansionism is one country taking over another, it is also known as ‘imperialism’.

Ø  The major form of expansionism is Europe’s domination of the globe for five centuries.

Ø  Expansionism transported rivalries between colonial powers to other parts of the globe.

Ø  In 1945 the UN had 51 member nations, it now has 189. Most of this growth has come from the winding up of empires.

Ø  These changes in the world came about for four reasons:

·         Colonial people rebelled against their masters.

·         The communications revolution meant that the ideas on resisting colonization could be broadcast around the world.

·         Colonial powers had been weakened by the fighting amongst themselves.

·         The temper of the times had changed. In Europe there was less enthusiasm for maintaining the burden of the empire

Ø  There is still an impact of Europe’s expansionism. 70% of the world’s borders were set up by Europeans. Unfortunately the borders were set up as a colonial convenience, rather than as a result of European consultation.

Ø  Virtually all the conflicts in Africa today have come from the mismatch of borders and ethnic groups.

Impact of Conflict on Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities

Ø  The UN estimates that there are 300 million indigenous people around the world. The majority of which suffer.

Ø  For example the majority of India tribal people live below the poverty line. Two decades ago, the Brazilian government set aside a piece of land the size of Portugal for the Indians to live on. When gold and oil were discovered on the land, the Indians were killed by invading miners, to exploit the resources.

Ø  However indigenous people are fighting back. The indigenous people have survived, and their numbers are increasing.

Ø  They are learning strength of networking. For example the Inuit population of northern Russia, Canada and Scandinavia, are sharing their experiences, including how to lobby their governments and how to mobilise the mass media.

Growth of Interest in Limiting War

Ø  The search for world order is based on the belief that it is possible to create a world which is less reliant on war.

Ø  During the 20^th century, the use of military force as an instrument of national policy changed.

Ø  The increased levels of destruction in the 19^th century led to governments looking for alternative ways to settle disputes.

The Hague Peace Conferences

Ø  The Hague Peace Conferences in 1899 and 1907 adopted the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes.

Ø  This stipulated that states are ‘to use their best efforts to ensure the pacific settlement of international differences’. This could be done by the use of mediation or an international commission of inquiry.

Ø  It also created the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which made 15 decisions between 1899 and 1914.

The League of Nations Covenant

Ø  The League of Nations Covenant built on The Hague Peace Conferences’ work. It paid particular attention to arbitration and mediation:

·         Article 11 – any threat of war concerned the whole League of Nations.

·         Article 12 – a three-month ‘cooling off’ period in which disputes are to be submitted to judicial settlement or inquiry by the League Council.

·         Article 14 – established the Permanent Court of International Justice.

The Pact of Paris

Ø  The L.O.N Covenant did not actually stop the use of war as am instrument of national policy.

Ø  In 1928 The Pact of Paris renounced war as an instrument of national policy in relations with other countries.

The UN Charter

Ø  Two key UN Charter principles are articles 2(3) and 2(4):

·         Article 3 – all members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means.

·         Article 4 – all members shall refrain in their international relations from threat or use of force.

WAYS OF WORKING FOR WORLD ORDER

Ø  There are various ways of working for world order. These include:

·         A world government

·         World/regional federations

·         Peace-enforcement and peacekeeping

·         Regulation of the conduct of hostiles

·         Humanitarian intervention

World Government

Ø  This is the most ambitious way of creating world order.

Ø  The closest the world has ever come to some form of world government world have been some of the rulers in the 20^th century such as Hitler.

Ø  The concept also troubles people. The idea of having a sole dictator on earth. It may solve problems, but it is difficult to create without enslaving the world under one person.

World/Regional Federation

Ø  A safer way of world order is common solutions to common problems, through a federation.

The European Union

Ø  This is more than the confederal UN, and less than a federal nation-state.

Ø  The EU began through a French proposal in 1950 to pool the coal and steel industries of France and West Germany, and open it to all European democracies.

Ø  This encouraged six other countries in Europe to form similar alliances, and in 1957 the European Economic Community was formed, this later became the EU.

Peace-Enforcement and Peace Keeping

Ø  The UN’s architects imagined that a Military Staff Committee would be created from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (US, Russia, UK, France and China).

Ø  Each member nation had to have troops ready to dispatch to the Military Staff Committee.

Ø  This scheme however was never set up.

Ø  The UN Secretary General has the right to refuse. Also governments that do supply troops, have the right to recall them after any threats of violence.

Ø  The end of the Cold War had four impacts on the UN:

·         There has been a considerable increase in operations.

·         The UN has gone into deeper debt through these operations.

·         The UN’s idea of a Military Staff Committee has never fully been used.

·         The US has exploited the demise of the USSR and Russia’s vulnerability to foreign aid and bribery, by manipulating the Security Council to its own ends.

Somalia

Ø  Somalia is a good example of problems with UN peacekeeping.

Ø  Somalia became independent in 1960. It, as well as neighbouring countries, had been armed by the US and USSR, in the interest of Cold War politics.

Ø  In 1991 the President fled the capital, as the tribal continued to fight.

Ø  People all around the globe saw this and demanded their government provide some form of assistance. The UN decided to take action.

Ø  The UN operation in Somalia (UNOSOM) started in 1992 and was one of the biggest ever launched by the UN. US troops deployed to stop the clan fighting, would act as peace keeping troops for the UN.

Ø  UNOSOM raised three basic questions:

·         How is the UN to select disputes in which it should get involved in?

·         When does the UN leave an area?

·         Will countries continue to agree to supply forces for these operations?

Regulation of the Conduct of Hostiles

Ø  Humanitarian law of armed conflict has evolved over the centuries. It roots go back to Christian fighting in the Roman Armies, and financial gain from selling captured knights, back to the enemy.

Ø  In the 19^th century, Europe started to codify laws, the international humanitarian law of armed conflict was among the first to be codified.

Ø  In the 19^th and 20^th centuries, science and technology were used in the interest of warfare, and governments were recruiting more and more people for armies.

Ø  Due to the increase in suffering, several attempts were made to restrict the use of force in warfare and protect the wounded. During the American Civil war, President Lincoln asked Professor Francis Leiber to undertake the first codification of the customs of the law of armed conflict.

The Hague Convention

Ø  The first Hague Peace Conference was held in 1899 by the Russian Czar, to negotiate and end to armed races. The Czar hoped to reduce military expenditure, by convening a conference to negotiate disarmament.

Ø  The ultimate aim was never achieved, but several other methods of warfare were limited. There was a follow up conference in 1907.

Ø  The Hague Convention on Land Warfare 1899 – 1907 contained the following provisions:

·         Article 22 – “the right of belligerents to adopt means of injuring the enemy is not unlimited”

·         Article 23 – “in addition to the prohibitions provided by special Conventions, it is especially forbidden: … to employ arms, projectiles or material calculated to cause unnecessary suffering.”

The Geneva Conventions

Ø  The Geneva Convention is an international agreement on the treatment of wounded and sick defence personnel and prisoners of war, and civilian populations.

Ø  The strength that the Geneva Convention had over the Hague Conventions is that they had the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) overseeing them. The HC did not have a NGO take permanent interest in them.

Ø  In the 1960’s some NGO’s led by the ICRC and the International Commission of Jurists, campaigned to revise four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Law of The Hague.

Ø  In 1977, two protocols were added to the Geneva Convention:

·         Protocol I deals with international conflict.

·         Protocol II deals with non-international conflict.

Ø  The Law of Geneva and the Law of The Hague were brought together, through these two protocols.

Ø  The Geneva Conventions deal with:

·         Wounded and sick military personnel in the battlefield and at sea.

·         Prisoners of war.

·         Civilians.

Ø  The Law of The Hague focused on the means and methods of warfare.

Ø  The two strands were never secure and with the finalisation of the two protocols in 1977, the e two never merged.

Humanitarian Intervention

Ø  Intervention in international affairs of another country is prohibited by the UN charter. Article 2(4) prohibits the use of force in international relations, and article 2(7) severely limits the UN’s scope for intervention in internal affairs.

Ø  This however has five exceptions:

·         The UN Security Council may decide to intervene if the situation within a country is a threat to international security and peace (Chapter VII of the UN Charter).

·         International Law has recognised the right of international intervention for governments to protect their own citizens.

·         Long-term interventions inflicted on countries that have lost a major war, e.g. the allies’ occupation in Germany and Japan after WWII.

·         Humanitarian aid could only be delivered to the people of a country, with the consent of that country’s government.

·         The international protection of human rights, by its very nature, requires some form of UN intervention in the human rights policies of governments.

IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS

Ø  National governments can be both the vehicle that carries a world order agreement, and the obstacle that stops one.

Ø  Governments can send delegations to international conferences to create treaties, and they can also refuse to sign treaties. This is called state sovereignty. State sovereignty is a key component of international law.

State Sovereignty

Ø  State sovereignty came from the turmoil of the 15^th and 16^th centuries.

Ø  Thomas Hobbes wrote of the need for a strong central ruler. They would make laws and enforce them. After the American and French revolutions this absolutism was toned down and popular sovereignty was introduced.

Ø  Popular sovereignty saw the ruler interpreting the wishes of the people. The shift from Hobbesian sovereignty to popular sovereignty had little significance.

Ø  Before he retired in 1991, Javier Perez de Cuellar gave a speech to the University of Florence. He outlined the following:

·         States under international law are equal.

·         Each state enjoys the rights inherent in full sovereignty.

·         Each state has the duty to respect the personality of other states.

·         The territorial integrity and political independence of the state are inviolable.

·         Each state has the right to freely choose and develop its political, social, economic and cultural systems.

·         Each state has the duty to comply fully and in good faith with its international obligations and to live in peace with other states.

Sovereignty

Ø  The concept of sovereignty has two problems:

·         Sovereignty does not convey the concept of national independence, as countries interact with each other.

·         There is a discrepancy between the doctrine of sovereign equality of states and the reality on international politics.

Ø  Half the member states of the Commonwealth have a population of less than one million and a quarter have less than 200 000. Despite this, each state has to be treated alike.

LEGAL ISSUES AND REMEDIES

THE SCOPE FOR ACHIEVING WORLD ORDER

Ø  There have been many attempts at world order, but none have succeeded. Though the ways which have been based on cooperation have come closer than the ways based on coercion.

Force

Ø  Force is the most obvious way of seeking world order. People seek to dominate and see world order as them being able to order others.

Ø  The term ‘Pax Romana’ was a word used by the Romans relating to them imposing themselves on the Mediterranean region (Pax meaning peace).

Ø  All attempts to use force have failed in the long term, as leaders die and the oppressed rebel. After WWII self determination was encouraged.

Ø  Almost no country now lives under foreign domination.

International Instruments

Ø  Treaties formalize the process of Governments coming together to solve common problems.

Ø  Treaties can be called ‘conventions’, ‘covenants’ or an ‘exchange of letters’. Extra parameters can be added later, these are called protocols.

Ø  Some declarations are not binding on any countries, but will detect a government’s support for the content of the declaration.

Ø  ‘Hard Law’ refers to laws which are binding with specific obligations. ‘Soft Law’ refers to laws that reflect the actions a government deem necessary and will support taking.

International Customary Law

Ø  Customs come from practices of countries and can be accepted by law.

Ø  An international customary law requires:

·         The practice of the custom by all countries.

·         The continuation and repetition of the practice for a long time.

·         The belief that the practice is required by current international law.

·         That all countries agree how the practice is carried out.

Ø  International customary law is based on the idea that several governments face similar problems and react in the similar ways, to them.

Ø  Problems arise however, in how the detection of this similarity is made. It may take decades, even centuries, to notice a similarity and there is no central body to detect the practices.

The United Nations

Ø  WWI came as a shock and debates started over who was to blame for it. It came down to the ‘system’ being destablised by the unification of Germany in the 1870’s.

Ø  The League of Nations was set up after WWI and the punitive peace settlement inflicted on Germany.

Ø  The LON stated in 1920 with the idea that two countries, after agreeing to, would settle their disputes through the LON. Most countries didn’t agree to settle their disputes in the L.O.N.

Ø  The US rejected membership to the L.O.N, and its mood of isolationism also entailed a restrictive immigration policy and the imposition of high tariff barriers. Britain and France were wary of it. They were not accustomed to working through international organizations. Their governments lacked the vision to use the League fully.

Ø  Then the L.O.N was flawed from the outset. It did however make progress in:

·         World health.

·         Care of refugees.

·         The suppression of slavery and the drug trade.

·         The protection of minority populations.

·         Improvements in employment conditions in factories and elsewhere.

Ø  When militarism built up in Japan, Italy and Germany, the L.O.N was powerless to stop them because member-nations were reluctant to interfere, or opposed to coercion. Consequently them League lost a lot of its political power by the mid 1930’s.

Ø  The UN was created in 1945 (after WWII). The UN is a much more ambitious organization than the League.

Ø  The UN is not a world government and is a long way from becoming one. It is simply the world main ‘association’ of countries.

Regional Inter-Governmental Organisations

Ø  The EU is the best known example of a regional inter-governmental organization. But it to has some problems:

·         There is a problem in creating a sense of unity. Some old rivalries are dying away (such as France and Germany), but no new alliances seem to be forming.

·         There is a debate over how the EU should evolve. There is a move for a deeper union, which would give member-nations more functions and cooperate far more. There is also a move for a wider union, allowing some of Eastern Europe to join.

·         There is problem with creating democracy and accountability within the EU. The real power is wielded by the European Commission at Brussels. EU citizens feel isolated from the decisions and this has led to a fragmentation within the EU.

Ø  The theory behind these problems (specifically with decision making) is that the decision should be made by the people who have to live with the consequences.

Ø  The standard reply to this concentration of power is ‘subsidiary’, making all decisions at the lowest possible level of government.

Ø  One argument against this is that the people will make a decision which advantages them, at the expense of the bigger community.

Non-Governmental Organisations

Ø  NGO’s have rapidly increased in number, as many people prefer working for a company rather than a political party.

Ø  NGO’s are an important way of mobilising public opinion, as they can attract the media, appeal to the people, and can create a sense of vision that will outlasts the governments.

Ø  Some international NGO’s are already working with the UN via an Economic and Social Council ‘consultative status’.

The Geneva Conventions and the Red Cross

Ø  In the mid 19^th century the majority of people who died during wars did not die in war, but died after due to lack of medical treatment.

Ø  The ICRC was set up after the battle of Solferino, to look after the wounded in battle, in 1859. The first Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field was also created in 1864.

Ø  The Geneva Conventions deal with victims of war and the people who look after them. The most recent revision and re-writing in 1949, added four conventions, dealing with:

·         Victims on land.

·         Victims at sea.

·         Prisoners of war.

·         Civilians in a conflict.

The Media

Ø  NGO’s can use the media to broadcast their cause all around the world.

Ø  The media can also be a double edged sword. It can broadcast images all over the world to people, who go to their governments to do something, that won’t or can’t be done in another country. However it can also overwhelm people with images, resulting in people becoming unmoved by what they are seeing.

Ø  Media, specifically television, is a form of entertainment, and real-life issues (not reality shows!) are skimmed over, when shown in excessive coverage.

Ø  TV appeals to emotion not intellect, there fore people can become desensitsed.

THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNALS

Ø  Dispute resolution includes:

·         The International Court of Justice (ICJ).

·         International tribunals.

·         Mediation and arbitration.

The International Court of Justice

Ø  The ICJ goes back to the early 30^th century when it was believed that war could be outlawed.

Ø  The ICJ has a dual role:

·         To settle, in accordance with international law, the legal disputes submitted to it by countries.

·         To give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by other parts of the UN.

Ø  Only governments can bring disputes to the ICJ, it also does not give advisory opinions to governments.

Ø  The ICJ is composed of 15 judges, elected to nine year terms in office, by the UN General Assembly and the Security Council. Each judge has to be of a different nationality, but are not representatives of their country.

Other International Tribunals

Ø  Some tribunals are permanent bodies created by regional inter-governmental bodies.

Ø  The EU has its own tribunal – the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg – to handle disputes arising from the treaties. Cases may be brought by member-nations, companies or an individual.

Ø  Some tribunals are created for disputes which arise through the interpretation of a specification in a treaty, such as the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, which is part of the UN’s 1982 Law of the Sea Treaty.

Ø  Others are ad hoc, that is they are created for a specific purpose, and then disbanded.

Ø  International tribunal ad to the development of world order, by allowing governments to settle disputes, through a third party.

Arbitration and Mediation

Ø  Over the centuries, customs have limited the use of force in a conflict. The increased destructiveness of war in the 19^th century led governments to look for alternative ways to settle disputes.

Ø  The Hague Peace Conferences in 1899 and 1907 adopted the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes. This stipulated that states “are to use their best efforts to ensure the pacific settlement of international differences”; this could be done by mediation or an international commission of enquiry.

Ø  It also created the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Ø  Arbitration means that a dispute is decided by one or more persons based on international law. Some disputes are not taken to the ICJ, as neither government wants to risk having a decision made against them

Ø  Mediation is a more flexible way of settling a dispute. One or more persons settle a dispute on principles agreed to by the disputants.

AUTRALIAS FEDRAL STRUCTURE

Ø  The Australian Constitution gives the Federal Government power over ‘external affairs’. The government may enter into an agreement, but any legislative impact on Australia needs to be done via a specific act of parliament.

Ø  Australia is part of about 900 treaties, most of them are bilateral.

Ø  The State Government has a considerable role in the day to day implementation of treaties, therefore when entering into a treaty the Federal Government will talk with the State Government if necessary. Australia has served with distinction in the L.O.N and UN.

Jessie Street

was the only Australian female delegate and one of four women at the entire 1945 San Francisco conference that finalised the UN Charter.

Ø  Australian Minister for External Affairs, HV Evatt, was president of the UN General Assembly in 1948.

Ø  In recent years as much as 2000 Australians have served in UN operations. For example Australia took a leading role in East Timor in 1999-2000.

Ø  Australia pays about 1.51% of the UN budget (roughly A$23 million). It also pays A$45 million per year for UN peacekeeping operations.

NON-LEGAL REMEDIES – PERSUASION AND POLITICAL NEGOTIATION

Ø  Embassies in other country’s are seen as part of there own country, not the country which they are in.

Ø  Diplomats have diplomatic immunity from the local laws of the country. They have mail delivered in diplomatic pouches, which cannot be opened by customs, and are exempt from paying taxes.

Ø  Diplomatic immunity means diplomats cannot be brought before a court in a country in which they are stationed to answer charges relating to offences they are alleged to have committed; such a person is usually returned to his or her home country and may face criminal charges there.

Ø  Modern communication and transport has made governmental leaders meetings, far easier. But despite this technology, there are so many countries, that a local representative is needed in each country.

Ø  Independence and shared global responsibility are key characteristics of the present world order.

Ø  Functional cooperation means that specialists cooperate together across national lines and out of the political spotlight, to work for a greater goal.

Ø  Much of the coordination for this is done through the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

MORALITY, ETHICS AND COMMITMENT TO THE LAW

Ø  The religion with the most explicit interest in world order is the Baha`i religion, founded over a century ago in the Middle East by Baha`u`llah.

Ø  Its administrative order is claimed to be an example of how the world itself could be governed. It is based around freely elected governing councils, which operate at the local, national and international levels. The hierarchy transfers decision-making power to the lowest level possible, thereby providing grass-roots democracy while at the same time providing a level of coordination and authority that makes cooperation possible on a global scale.

‘JUST’ WAR

Ø  As the Roman Empire collapsed, Christians were recruited into the imperial forces, where they turned out to be good fighters, but they had to reconcile their fighting with their beliefs.

Ø  Christian theologians tried to define what a ‘just’ war is. They agreed on:

·         War can be decided on only legitimate authorities.

·         War may be resorted to only after a specific fault and if the purpose is to make compensation for injury or to resolve what has been wrongly seized.

·         The intention must be the advancement of good or the avoidance of evil.

·         In a war other than one strictly in self-defence, there must be a reasonable prospect of victory.

·         Every effort must be made to resolve differences by peaceful means before resorting to the use of force.

·         The innocent shall be immune from direct attack; the amount of force used shall not be disproportionate.

EFFECTIVENESS OF THE LAW

Ø  Effectiveness covers two sections; the role of national sovereignty; and incentives to follow the international humanitarian law of armed conflicts.

Sovereignty

Ø  There is no guarantee that governments will agree to sign treaties, as sovereignty gives them the right not to.

Ø  Treaties are becoming more intrusive, and this is creating technical difficulties.

Ø  Treaties only bind the countries that sign them, but cannot bind non-governmental groups such as guerrilla groups.

Ø  Many countries are unwilling to accept compulsory jurisdiction. That is, when a case is brought against them in the ICJ, they have to attend.

Incentives to Follow the Law

Ø  Training of defence forces is very important, but there are not enough reasons to keep defence personnel fighting all the time. So a great deal of time is given to training. The Geneva Conventions have required governments to educate their forces in the law of armed conflict.

Ø  Defence personnel are given instructions on how and why to fire their weapons.

Ø  Much of the law of armed conflict is based on common sense, and already existing laws in a country.

Ø  Permanent, full-time defence force work is a career. Following the law of armed conflict is part of that career.

Ø  Defence work is an honourable profession. The special status that comes with it means that society expects them to behave in an honourable way.

Ø  The laws of armed conflict are part of the discipline process of the armed forces. A badly disciplined force will struggle against an organised enemy.

Ø  There is a sense of reciprocity – if one side follows the law, the other side might think likewise.

Ø  War crimes cause bad publicity; they undermine the image of the fighting and tarnish the nobility of the cause.

LAW REFORM

A World at War

Ø  To the ICRC there is big difference between being killed in an international or a non-international conflict.

Ø  Almost all of the provisions of the Geneva Convention deal with international conflicts, and only one deals specifically with non-international ones. The First Aid protocol of 1977 deals with international conflicts and the Second Additional protocol of 1977 deals with non-international conflicts.

Ø  In international conflicts, it is arranged so that the Red Cross can still function properly, whereas non-international conflicts aren’t as organised and is causes problems for the Red Cross.

Ø  Despite this the Red Cross can still operate through the ‘gaps’ in the Geneva Conventions and additional protocols.

No System for International Enforcement

Ø  Once the ICJ makes a decision there is no ‘police force’ to enforce it. However it can be referred to the UN Security Council, but that would make it vulnerable to a veto decision.

Ø  There are also problems with the procedural aspect of the ICJ. The ICJ deals with facts and with matters of interpretation. The ICJ is still new and unsophisticated.

Ø  Also the ICJ judges may have limited experience in lower court procedures, for example sifting through evidence. This creates the risk that false evidence may go unnoticed.

Give Peace a Chance

Ø  Peacekeeping is soldiers and occasionally police, trying to limit a conflict.

Ø  Peace-making is the role of diplomats in creating a durable peace.

Ø  Peace-building is creating long-term economic and social changes, so as to reduce the chances of another outbreak of violence.

Ø  Giving peace a chance is better when the advantages of peace outweigh the advantages of war.

Michael Atteya