In the aftermath of the ringing explosions in Gaza, the silence of the UN has seemed all the more deafening. The inability to hold Israel responsible for its actions in the face of blatant disregard of International Humanitarian Law as well as International law has led many to believe that international law is nothing more than a farce, where only power manufactures its own order. They make a fair point; any resolution condemning Israel is vetoed in the Security Council by the US; Russia annexed Crimea with minimum fuss and judging by the half-heartedly disguised Russian soldiers, minimum effort. The United States invaded Iraq, Grenada and Nicaragua with impunity on flimsy excuses. Yet despite all this, those calling International law fiction, have allowed an emotional opinion (abeit justified), to cloud wider judgment.
Yes, International law is sometimes vague and has no central legislative, and yes it has no equivalent of a ‘police force’ that could grab the offenders and drag them to court to face judgment; but this does not stop it from being a very real and very active legal system. The first and most basic thing that makes it a legal system, is that everyone perceives it to be so. No state flouts international law because they believe ‘it is not law’ or ‘it doesn’t apply to us’. Instead, they try to justify their departure from the law; the US argued ‘self defence’ under Chapter V of the UN charter, Russia cited ‘Protection of citizens abroad.’ Secondly, the vast majority of affairs that fall under the term ‘international law’ are dealt with without too much trouble; diplomatic and consular immunities, maritime shipping disputes, seabed ownership disputes, issues of jurisdiction and deportation, refugee rights amongst countless other issues, are dealt with on a daily basis. General Pinochet’s bloody Chilean regime and Milosevic’s senseless genocide have both been tried, African warlords brought to justice.
It is naive to expect an entity that has no land, money or army of its own to ‘forcibly’ take action against another state, especially a well armed one. Another armed conflict will only lead to more death. IHL has a far subtler function; standard setting. By empowering local courts to try human rights issues in states that ratify its treaties, it has brought up living standards all over the world. Treaties on children, women and discrimination are now the basis of legal action around the world.
Being the youngest child of human society, International law is imperfect, not useless. Labelling it fiction only undermines the whole concept. Sadly its only failing- its failure to bring powerful states to justice- is the hardest one to swallow.