International Law & Humanitarian Issues - Assignment Example

Some of the laws like the Antarctic treaty have so far been abided to by different nations. But the biggest challenge has been turning these international agreements, protocols into legally bidding laws has been difficult (Doyle, 2004). The reason behind the lukewarm reception of these laws if because invasive state of these agreements and approach towards a respectable common heritage. Issues like environmental protection through laws have been approached by conventions or declarations. These conventions have not been effective since they deal with establishment of framework on dealing with many of these pertinent issues.

Conventions are not aimed coming up with substantive goals. Therefore, they have not been able to come up with results that could lead to formation of legal agreements. As a result, some countries have been hesitant in agreeing to the convention and protocols (Dunoff, 2010). Question 2 It is a known fact that the world belongs to mankind and it is this reason that the people argue that international laws interfere with. However, it is not right for international law to trump all property claims all over the world.

This is because each nation is recognized in International laws on their sovereignty. The UN charter which forms the basis for all international laws respects peace and human rights. Therefore, the right to ownership of property forms part of the human rights. Moreover, the recognition of sovereignty of any state by the UN charter affirms the right to ownership of property by any person (Westra, 2007). It is only in rare cases that the UN charter and international laws trump up ownership of property by individuals or states.

Conflicts over ownership of land, islands or territorial boundaries in the sea are resolved by use of international laws. These laws are supposed to protect and restore human rights and therefore these laws should not trump up ownership of land. For instance, the conflict over ownership of Abyei region in Sudan or the Mindanao Islands between Japan and China are being solved using international laws (Martin, 2006). Question 3 The regime of innocent passage tends to benefit countries which use the routes through shallows regions like straits.

In most cases it is the coastal nation that tends to benefit from the regime of innocent passage. This is because this state or nation has the right to decide on the issue of regime of innocent passage. While on the other hand nations or people with interests in different sections tend to be harmed from the regime of safe passage (Dunoff, 2010). For instance, the long standing conflict over the Gibraltar islands as clearly shown the benefit of regime of passage to nations where their internal waters are also locations for passage.

Nations with commercial or political interests can be harmed by the law of regime passage. For instance, trading or war vessels with intentions of conducting work in regions where other nations determine passage are usually harmed. The UN article 2(4) does apply in the case of regime of passage especially in regions like straits where other nations have jurisdiction other than passage (Westra, 2007). This is because unlike the high seas where sovereignty cannot be applied as is the case of regime of passage.

Question 4 The question of who should be vested with governance due to the conflicts and problem facing the world is quite difficult. However, in my view I think that political leaders are best suited for making decisions in consultations with experts. Political