Why is international law important

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Prizes From distinguished scholars to exceptional PhD students, our prizes recognise service and achievement across the profession. Our Organisation. Charles University Information Local Organisers. Here, the codified definition in international treaties and the interpretation of this definition in previous cases can give you important guidance. You would also need to determine whether the particular state in question has ratified the pertinent treaty or treaties. Hence one could argue that instances of torture on the territory of non-state parties do not fall within the ambit of the treaties.

Also a counterargument is possible. One could make a case for the extraterritorial application of the treaty if the acts of torture on foreign soil were effectively controlled by a state that is a member to the treaty. You would then proceed to see whether a customary rule exists that prohibits the use of torture.

Even if the treaties prohibiting torture have not been ratified by a state, you could argue that the treaty has codified an already existing customary rule or, if a large majority of states has ratified the treaties, that this is evidence that a customary rule has been formed. In light of horrendous historical experiences, you may also argue that the prohibition of torture is of such fundamental importance that today no derogation from this rule is permitted.

In other words, you would argue that the prohibition of torture is a peremptory rule of international law ius cogens — peremptory law that does not permit any exception. You can see now how the early idea of state consent as a necessary requirement for an international rule still permeates these argumentations.

The main difficulty often consists in establishing state consent or, at times, in constructing alternatives for it. The end of the Second World War and the end of the Cold War are probably the most significant historical watersheds in the development of recent public international law. The end of the Second World War in led to the establishment of the United Nations and the rapid development of several areas of international law, including human rights law, international criminal law and international economic law.

The United Nations is the most important global intergovernmental organisation with major offices in New York, Geneva, Nairobi and Vienna. It was established with the principal aim to ensure peace and security through international co-operation and collective measures. As of , it has member states. Article 2 of the UN Charter, the founding treaty of the United Nations, confirms as guiding principles the sovereign equality of the member states, the peaceful settlement of disputes, the prohibition of the use of force and the principle of non-intervention.

Delegates of all member states meet once a year during the General Assembly to discuss pertinent issues of world politics and vote on non-binding resolutions.

The Security Council is the highest executive organ of the United Nations in which the representatives of ten selected member states and five states with permanent seats decide on issues of peace and security through binding resolutions, which may result in economic sanctions or even military actions.

Major reform initiatives of the composition or voting procedures of the Security Council have been unsuccessful so far. This taints the effectiveness and the democratic legitimacy of the Security Council and, especially during the Cold War, it severely constrained the Security Council as two of its key members the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in an ideological conflict. Politically, however, the right to veto was a necessary concession to ensure the participation of the most powerful nations in a world organisation.

Numerous principal and subsidiary UN organs and specialised agencies engage in the application, enforcement and development of international law. This work comprises, for example, classical legal work in the International Law Commission and special committees of the General Assembly, practical work in the field and diplomatic efforts by Offices of High Commissioners and their staff, or actions taken by the Security Council. All of these bodies, and many more, promote and shape international law in various ways.

In the International Law Commission, for example, a group of experts create reports and drafts on specific topics that are then submitted to a committee of the General Assembly and can provide an important basis for later treaty negotiations.

The Offices of the High Commissioners for Human Rights and Refugees do important work in the field where their staff endeavour to uphold international law often in crisis situations.

Their experiences influence also subsequent interpretations of international law, for example, regarding who qualifies as a refugee. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO fulfils a crucial function in disseminating knowledge about international law by promoting education and research on human rights, justice and the rule of law. The existence of a world organisation, the legal prohibition of the use of force, the establishment of a system of collective security and the protection of human rights have caused fundamental changes in the international legal order.

These community interests may range from environmental challenges and cultural heritage to issues of human security. According to this principle, states have an obligation to prevent gross human rights violations not only at home but also abroad, if necessary through forceful United Nations measures. The protection of the individual from severe atrocities has thus become a matter of national, regional and international concern.

This means that states can no longer claim that gross human rights violations are internal matters and that they are protected by their sovereignty.

Today there are countless actors that engage in the making, interpretation, use and enforcement of international norms. States still are the major international actors and the principal makers and addressees of international norms. And, they often do this without, or even against, the will of states. It was originally created to help contain the spread of communism in Europe during the Cold War but has endured in the years since.

You can thus see how a private initiative has transformed into public normative authority. This multitude of norms, legal regimes, actors and normative processes is reflected in more recent approaches to international law that focus more on pluralistic governance processes than on a unified legal system, and more on informal law-making than on formal sources. In order to understand how different actors make normative claims and how they use international law, the aforementioned broader perspectives offer valuable insights.

The emergence of a norm like the prohibition of torture and its influence start long before such a norm is codified in an international treaty. Through a combination of means e. In the case of torture, this meant that even literary novels and political pamphlets contributed to a change in social perception and an increase of empathy with victims which in turn led to the social unacceptability of torture.

At this second stage, the norm starts to spread through international society. Here an active process of transnational — domestic, regional and international — socialisation takes place which, primarily, states, international organisations and networks of norm entrepreneurs carry forward.

Those state and non-state actors that have endorsed the norm engage in a process of redefining what qualifies as appropriate behaviour within international society. Social movement theory, which studies mobilisations in society to make collective claims about social changes, provides valuable insights on the conditions and effects of this process. If this process succeeds, norms such as the prohibition of torture become truly transnational in the course of this process.

They exert normative force domestically through constitutional guarantees and through the work of civil society groups. In addition, the norms are invoked in regional and in international human rights fora such as regional and international courts or human rights bodies. This, however, does not mean that international law is a guarantor for a just global order. Much rests on the will and interests of the actors involved. International law itself cannot solve injustices and cannot manufacture solutions.

Ultimately, many of the politically charged issues simply reflect in the language of international law. For example, we have seen already that international law prohibits the use of force by states in peace times except when the forceful measures have been authorised by the UN Security Council or when a state acts in self-defence Article 51, UN Charter.

Similarly, since it is not illegal to kill enemy combatants during an armed conflict, international lawyers will exchange legal arguments about whether terrorists qualify as combatants and whether the killing of terrorist suspects in a foreign country is permissible under international law because of a continuing global war on terror that amounts to a state of armed conflict.

Finally, also in the ambit of our example on the prohibition of torture, lawyers will argue about whether the situation of a hidden ticking bomb might exceptionally permit torturing the apprehended attacker if this could save innocent lives.

This is not to say, however, that international law is inherently indeterminate or arbitrary. The normative force of international law lies in the creation of new argumentative needs, in the possibility to challenge established positions, in the specific required modes of argumentation, in the institutionalised fora for conflict resolution and in the justificatory potential that rests in law.

Also the divide between international law and IR theory has been closing for some time now. Liberal approaches to IR acknowledge that norms have an important role to play for the shaping of state preferences and in international co-operation to attain common aims by setting common normative frameworks. The English school argues for an international society in which states through interaction naturally create rules and institutions, as exemplified in the example of the families at the beginning of this chapter.

The constructivist school focuses on social processes, including legal norms that shape the self-understanding, role, identity and behaviour of actors. Social movement theory analyses the creation and effects of group organisation in civil society and how campaigning, for example for human rights, gains social force and translates into political results.

International lawyers, on the other hand, have been opening up towards empirical, sociological and political approaches to understand how norms develop and how actors exert normative authority.

This goes beyond understanding international law exclusively as a coherent legal system with recognised sources of law and specific techniques of legal practice. International lawyers increasingly adopt a more pluralistic and holistic outlook and an understanding of international law as a social process.

This social process results in normative regulations that function as standards of conduct to guide and evaluate the behaviour of international actors. There are many subcategories of international law, so specializing in one branch of international law is a possibility. International laws promote peace, justice, common interests, and trade. For example, the South China Sea and the Arctic Sea are hotly disputed areas where maritime law comes into play to regulate who gets to access these bodies of water.

Have you ever thought about the next frontier of space and space travel? Regulations and laws need to be in place for this unexplored and uncharted territory.

Who knew space law is a real field of study? We live in a fast-paced globalized world where our laws are globalized too. First, it refers to the development of an enhanced role for legal rules and procedures in transnational political and economic matters. These two courts are vital to upholding the international laws and statues established by the participating countries.

All students interested in international law should be aware of the important role the United Nations plays in this area. Many of the treaties brought about by the United Nations form the basis of the law that governs relations among nations.

Reciprocity can play a role, as many benefits can be gained from following laws. The prospective student of international law will learn the nuances, and the ins and outs, of this fascinating field of study. Here are three little-known specialties in international law that might be of interest for their unique globalized and challenging nature.

The newest field in international law, air and space law, is a rapidly developing and growing field of study. In , the International Institute of Air and Space Law was established with the goal of collaborating with "many world-class academic institutions. The institute maintains close contact with national and international organizations and businesses worldwide and is guided by a prestigious International Advisory Board.

Today, air and space law contends with the regulation of unmanned aircraft, such as drones, and helps maintain agreements with international air space regulation.