INTERNATIONAL LAWS

INTERNATIONAL LAWS

TOPIC: IR

Context- Russia has begun a large-scale military attack on Ukraine violating international law – violating the prohibition in the United Nations (UN) Charter on the use of force, violating the obligation to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other states, and violating the prohibition on intervention.

Concept-

International laws under UN Charter:

• Article 2(4) of the UN Charter prohibits the threat or use of force with the only two exceptions to this prohibition being self-defence and action mandated by the UN Security Council.
• International law does not give the inhabitants of a part of a state the right to secede from that state. The aspect of self-determination which allows for independence of a ‘people’ applies to peoples in colonies and other overseas territories under the occupation of another state.
• Article 51 allows for self-defence ‘if an armed attack occurs’. This has been interpreted by many states to include defence against the threat of an imminent attack.
  • Article 51 recognises the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence in the case of an armed attack by one state against another state.
  • The right to collective self-defence under Article 51 exists only for states.
  • Donetsk and Luhansk are not states under international law.
• The UN is based on the ‘principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members’ ( 2(1) of the UN Charter).
• International law gives the right to Ukraine, being attacked, to call for support from other states. And as well as imposing sanctions, states may wish to consider cyber countermeasures.
• On the negative side, international law (specifically, Article 41(2) of the 2001 Draft Articles on State Responsibility which reflects customary international law) imposes obligations on states not to recognize situations resulting from the use of force. This includes the obligation not to recognize the independence of the two breakaway republics.