The UN and International Law - Coursework Example

THE UN AND INTERNATIONAL LAW International Law International law can be defined as a collection of laws that govern the relations between independentand sovereign states according to Oppenheim (2005). In order to be eligible under international law, a state needs to have a government, a population, a territory and the capacity to take part in foreign or diplomatic relations. Individuals or private citizens do not fall under subjects that enjoy obligations and rights under the international law, therefore making international law different from other legal systems. According to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Statues (article 38), international law has three sources namely international treaties or conventions, international custom and general law principles (ICJ, n.d.). International treaty law involves the obligations that nations voluntarily and expressly agree to between themselves by drafting treaties. Customary international law is practiced by states out of obligation and the states must accept the principles or rules of the law for it to be legally binding and to be regarded as international law. International law features three different legal disciplines namely public international law, private international law and supranatural law: Under the public international law, the conducts and structures of independent states are covered including the international criminal law, Geneva conventions, United Nations, international criminal law and the maritime law. The private international law, also known as conflict of laws, covers disputes and private transactions occurring between nations in a dispute. It generally applies in situations involving domestic laws of the concerned nations (Yale, n.d). Supranational law is a collection of laws that controls the rights of nations in relation with each other. Supranational institutions normally receive submissions by nations on their rights to arrive at certain decisions. Generally, international law is binding when it comes to international relations as noted by Oppenheim (2005). The United Nations has featured prominently in the international arena as an organization that applies international law in making rulings and resolving conflicts between independent states. The United Nations got its name from the former US president Franklin Roosevelt who first used the term in 1942 after representatives of the allied forces accepted to join their forces in the war against the Axis. Three years later, some representatives of 50 nations came together in San Francisco to draft the UN charter which led to the UN’s official existence in October the same year following its charter’s ratification. The UN was thus formed to enforce international law, economic development, security, human rights and social progress for nations around the globe (UN, 2000). The ICJ is the UN’s main judicial organ. Its primary functions are to resolve legal disputes forwarded to it by nations and to provide advisory opinions on issues put before it. It came into existence in 1946 following the ratification of the UN Charter and has since handled a number of cases since its inception. Five of these cases are discussed hereunder. The UK and Northern Ireland versus Albania case, also known as the Corfu Channel Case, which was handled by the ICJ was a dispute that began at the Corfu Strait on 15th May, 1946 when British navy ships were fired upon by fortifications at the Albanian coast although no damages and injuries were recorded. Britain demanded an apology for the incident but the only response they got from Albania was that their (British) ships had been in its territorial waters illegally, hence the hostility (Law of war, n.d). A second incidence occurred in October the same year when two destroyers belonging to the British Navy hit mines within the Albanian territorial waters and were so badly damaged that a considerable number of crew lost their lives in the incident. Britain protested and wrote to the Albanian government accusing it of deliberately laying mines and demanded an explanation for the two incidences. The Albanian government denied the allegations but the British, not convinced by the response referred the case to the ICJ making it ICJ’s first case. The ICJ ruled that against Albania stating that though the British ships had been illegally in Albanian waters, they should have been warned. The ICJ ruled against Albania and instructed it to compensate Britain (Khoshkish, 1954). The UK versus Greece case or the Ambatielos Case is another case that the ICJ handled. Ambatielos was a Grecian ship owner who had commissioned nine ships from the British Government to be delivered at an agreed date. The British government however failed to deliver the ships in time resulting in heavy losses being incurred by Ambatielos who in return refused to pay for the ships prompting Britain to seize the ships. Ambatielos attempted to resolve the matter in the British courts but lost and so he turned to the ICJ. Unfortunately for Ambatielos, the ICJ ruled that it had no jurisdiction over the case (UN, 2006). The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company Case (now known as BP) was a dispute between the UK and Iran. In 1951 the Iranian government enforced an oil nationalization act that Britain saw as interfering with the oil company’s operations. The UK forwarded the case to the ICJ demanding that an earlier agreement granting the oil company 60 years lease to operate be upheld and demanded compensation for losses incurred due to the new legislation. ICJ ruled that it did not have jurisdiction over the case (Jstor, n.d). The case of the UK against Norway, also known as the Fisheries Case, was a dispute that arose due to a decree by the Norwegian government on how far its territory stretched. Some UK fishing ships often faced hostilities fishing in some waters which Norway had declared to be part of its territory. The UK had petitioned the ICJ to rule on whether or not Norway’s decree was a contravention of the international laws. In this particular case, the ICJ ruled in Norway’s favour. The Italy versus the US, UK and France case was about a dispute concerning over two tones of gold seized from Rome by the Nazi during the war in Europe. Following the war’s end, both Albania and Italy laid claim to the gold and petitioned a commission formed by the US, UK and France to aid them in getting back the gold (Patel, 2002). The commission failed to resolve the dispute and the matter was referred to the ICJ. The ICJ appointed an independent arbitrator who ruled that the gold was Albanian. Apart from making rulings through the ICJ, the United Nations has actively participated in resolving international conflicts. While the organization has been lauded for taking laudable and landmark measures in ensuring that nations co-exist in peace, it has also been accused of bias and inefficiency in some case. Some of these cases are highlighted below. The Suez Crisis of 1956 was significant in two main ways. The Sues Crisis not only caused deep public and political divisions within the UK but also caused uproar internationally. The crisis also marked the ending of Britain’s world powers and the starting point of the British Empire imperial rule’s end (Neely, 2006). This year was also significant for the UN as it was the year when the first UN peacekeeping force was formed and deployed. The force symbolized a major advancement of the UN and marked the beginning of an era in which conflict resolution would always involve the mission of peacekeeping. The Suez crisis began with the withdrawal of financial aid by the US and the UK from the Aswan dam project. Subsequently, the then Egyptian president Gamal Nasser decided to nationalize the Suez Canal in retaliation to the financial withdrawal and declared that all the revenues from the canal would be directed to financing the project. The British and French were not amused by this decision and reacted strongly by condemning Egypt’s actions. Meanwhile pressure was also building from Israel which was denouncing Egypt for its increasing incursions from Gaza to Israel. It was not long before Israel invaded Egypt and occupied the Gaza and Sinai strip. This action was closely followed by the occupation of the Suez Canal area by British and French army with the aim of nullifying Nasser’s decision and overthrowing his government (Fiscus, 2004). The worsening situation prompted the UN Security Council to discuss the situation though no agreement could be reached on what action would be collectively taken because of the vetoes of the UK and French. The issue was then forwarded to the UN General Assembly who called for a ceasefire followed by a withdrawal of all occupying foreign forces. Moreover, the assembly called for the set up of the first emergency force (UNEF 1), which was to supervise and secure the ending of the hostilities and the withdrawal of all the foreign armies from Egypt (Delupis, 2000). By December the British and French forces had exited followed by the Israelis by the beginning of March, 1957. At the completion of the withdrawal, UNEF 1 still stayed behind to form a buffer between Israel and Egypt. Even though the UN had deployed a number of observer missions before 1956, this was the first peace keeping force since the previous ones had functions which were only limited to monitoring and observing ceasefires following the conclusion of an agreement. Without the intervention of the UN, the situation would have definitely sparked a war and probably many other countries would have gotten involved worsening further the situation. In this respect, the UN played a vital role in ending the crisis that was, the Suez Canal Crisis. The United Nation’s deployment in the Congo from 1960-1964 was its largest and among its most controversial missions ever. Prior to 30th June 1960, Congo was Belgium’s colony. Congo was granted independence in 1960 five months before it had readied itself to perform the task of leading the nation. At the beginning of July, 1960, the army committed mutiny against the white officers who had remained behind to lead the Congolese army and many attacks were carried out against individuals of the white race (Leurdijk, 1986). The situation escalated when Belgium sent its troops into Congo and a rebel leader declared the mineral rich Katanga area as being independent of Congo. The Congolese government asked for UN’S assistance and the UN responded by putting up an army christened ONUK whose function was to keep out foreign countries from the brewing situation, stabilize and help to rebuild Congo (Soderlund, Briggs & Hilderbrandt, 2008). The army was to however be neutral to the Government and the rebels. By 1961, the situation had worsened and there were four groups claiming control of Congo, some of them being heavily armed. Meanwhile ONUK just stood by and watched as the country came very close to imploding into civil war. The situation luckily eased with the joining of three of the four groups to form the government. The government asked ONUK to help defeat the remaining rebel force and this time the UN accepted. The forces managed to overcome the rebels and its leader fled to Rhodesia. There arose a controversy when the then UN Secretary General went to meet the defeated rebel leader. This visit was seen by most people as taking sides on the part of the UN as the secretary general seemed to act contrary to the ONUK army yet they were both part of the UN. ONUK later attacked the Katanga area and enabled it to be rejoined with Congo. The UN may have satisfied the goals of its mission but its acting neutral while the situation worsened combined with the controversial action of its Secretary General painted the organization in bad light. As an organization that is supposed to help in stabilizing the world, there are instances where the UN has acted in ways far less than is expected of it. A case in point is during the Rwandan Genocide where despite the UN commander’s efforts request for more troops to assist in restoring order only about half of the number he requested was sent (Neuffer, 2002). Once again the UN just stood by and watched a fifth of the country’s population being brutally murdered. Another incidence is the US invasion of Iraq despite UN’s disapproval. This and the other controversial actions of the UN clearly in addition to its decisions being openly disregarded show the need of reforms within the UN if it is to be the efficient force that it is supposed to be. Conclusion International law has three sources; international treaties, international customs and general law. It features three different legal disciplines namely public international law, private international law and supranatural law. The United Nations is one body that applies international law in conflict resolution and in making (ICJ) court rulings. While the body has contributed much in maintaining world peace through its actions and activities, the United Nations has proved to be bias in some cases, more especially considering that it is subject to the principles of agency. References Delupis, I. D. (2000) The Law of War. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. Fiscus, J.W. (2004) The Suez Crisis. The Rosen Publishing Group. Inc: New York. ICJ, (n.d) Statue of the international Court of Justice. Retrieved on 31st March, 2010. Available at: http://www.icj-cij.org/documents/index.php?p1=4&p2=2&p3=0 Jstor (n.d) The Anglo-Nowergian Fisheries case 1951, retrieved on 31st March, 2010 http://www.jstor.org/pss/1091592 Law of war (n.d) CORFU channel case (merits) Judgment of 9 April 1949, retrieved on 31st March, 2010 http://lawofwar.org/corfu_channel_case.htm Leurdijk, J.H. (1986) Intervention in International Politics. Eisma B.V.: Michigan. Khoshkish, A. (1954) The Right of Innocent passage; A study in International Maritime Law. Editions Generales: California. Neely, M. (2006) The Suez Crisis. Retrieved on 31st March, 2010. Available at: http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/projects/suez/suez.html Neufer, E. (2002) The key to my Neighbour’s House: Seeking justice in Bosnia and Rwanda. Picador: Melbourne. Oppenheim, L. (2005) International law: A Treatise. The Lawbook Exchange Ltd: New Jersey. Patel BN (2002) Case of the monetary Gold removed from Rome in 1943, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers Regan, P.M. (2002) Civil Wars and Foreign Powers: Outside Intervention in Instate Conflict. University of Michigan Press: Michigan. Soderlund, W., Briggs, D and Hilderbrabdt, K. (2008) Humanitarian Crises and Intervention: Reassessing the impact of mass media. Kumarian Press: Connecticut. The United Nations (2000) Basic facts about the United Nations. Retrieved on 31st March, 2010. Available at: http://www.un.org/aboutun/history.htm UN (2006) The Ambatielos Claim (Greece, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), retrieved on 31st March, 2010 http://untreaty.un.org/cod/riaa/cases/vol_XII/83-153_Ambatielos.pdf. Yale University, (n.d) International Law Glossary. Retrieved on 31st March, 2010. Available at: www.law.yale.edu/documents/pdf/Student_Organizations/YFIL_Glossary.doc Read More