Responses to World Order

PeacekeepingPeacekeeping force was used in the UN to withstand blatant acts of aggression. This was seen as an improvement on the League of Nations

Peacekeeping gave the legal right to the UNSC to use ‘peace enforcement’.

The onset of the Cold War halted the idea of peace enforcement because all permanent 5 members needed to cooperate

Peacekeeping was born throughout the Suez Crisis 1956. The P5 could not agree to this issue and therefore the debate of intervention went to the General Assembly.

Peacekeeping is controlled by the Secretary- General

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRhRrmvZ9h8

Peace Building Commission

This commission ended at the 2005 World Summit

Peacebuilding is a longer process that can’t simply be measured in years of success.

The hope is a new PBC will ensure long term attention by the global community to the tasks of post-conflict recovery

Proposal for the UN Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS)

NGOs are pushing towards a UNEPS which would act swiftly when conflict arises

Action could be taken in days rather than months. This may result in more effective measures taken place to restore peace and stability

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

International Instruments

Treaties and customary law are the main sources of international law

Treaties are legally binding and are freely entered into. There are two types:

Bilateral treaties - treaties between two states

Multilateral treaties - treaties between a number of states

Important treaties to world order

Un Charter 1945

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 1948

Geneva Conventions 1949

Nuclear Non - Proliferation Treaty (NPT) 1968

The Non-Proliferation Treaty 1968

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r-9a1-n8sE

Jus Cogens

A legal norm or a ‘peremptory norm’

Treaties do not have to be signed in order to be considered binding

It is accepted as a norm today that slavery, piracy and torture are prohibited under international law

Courts and Tribunals

International Court of Justice (ICJ)

Est. 1946 - organ of the UN

15 judges elected by the UN

cases involve disputes between states

The ICJ hears two types of cases:

Contentious issues between states - the court produces binding rulings to states that have agreed to be bound by the rulings of the court

Advisory Opinions - the court provides reasoned, but non binding rulings

Theme and Challenge Time

Theme:the effectiveness of legal and non-legal responses in promoting and maintaining world order

The ICJ has limitations due to the losing party’s unwillingness to abide by the court’s rulings

The UNSC can also be reluctant to enforce the rulings