Enforcement of International Law - Thesis Example

Laws are only as good as their ability to be enforced and in a decentralized world that is torn apart by self-seeking interests and motives, enforcement of international laws seems a very tall order. This is evinced by the way the organs of the United Nations have behaved in the past, particularly the Security Council, which had difficulty arriving at a consensus in resolving problems simply because the chamber has, most of the time, become an extended arena of power struggle. Moreover, not only is the entire international judicial and legal system underpinned by the voluntary participation and submission of parties to the jurisdiction of these courts, but such courts seem impervious to private individuals and entities.

The bottom line is that any difficulty in enforcing international law is caused by the lack of necessary support mechanism that is underpinned by the monopoly of legitimate force by a singular, supreme authority that exercises compulsory jurisdiction. Nonetheless, there is little chance that a more revolutionary system of enforcement could substitute the present along the lines of enforcement systems found in municipal laws considering that the nature of the association of states is based on voluntariness and respect for one another’s sovereignty.

One has only to look back on what the Versailles Treaty has brought to the world as a consequence. The enforcement of international law, therefore, would have to continue relying largely on diplomacy, negotiation, state cooperation, and third-party proxy enforcement, among others; unless there is a compelling need to do otherwise. II. Fundamentals of International Law International law is commonly defined as a body of rules governing the relations of states. It is a legal system separate and opposed to the concepts of municipal law, domestic law, national law, or internal law allied to an association of human society coming from various jurisdictions.

One of the important and distinct features of international law is the breadth of its jurisdiction transcends political boundaries. Thus, international laws govern the conduct of the citizens of more than one country or the conduct of various states with one another in different areas such as economic, political, or social (Fichtelberg 43; Ross 12). International law has various sources, but treaties and conventions form the primary foundation of its realm. A treaty or convention is a voluntary agreement between or among several countries, which contains the terms and provisions of how such countries are to conduct themselves with respect to the subject of the agreement.

Examples are the Treaty of Versailles, the Treaty of Paris, and the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR). According to Article 38(1) of the International Court of Justice, aside from international conventions, the following also serve to guide its determination of applicable international law: international custom; the general principles of law recognized and practiced by civilized states, and; as subsidiary sources - judicial decisions, teachings of prominent international scholars (cited Malanczuk and Akehurst 36-37; Malone 5-6).