BASIC OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

1. INTERNATIONAL
LAW

2. DEFINING INTERNATIONAL LAW
▰ Traditional: The rules determining the conduct of states in their
dealings with one other
▪ Increasingly, though, individuals and corporations – not just
states – viewed as subjects of international law
▰ Newer: The body of rules and principles, formal and informal,
operating at the international rather than national level
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3. SOURCES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
▰ Explicit agreements (Treaties, conventions, protocols)
❖ UN Charter
❖ Geneva Convention
❖ Kyoto Protocol
▰ Customary Law (like “common law”)
❖ Widespread, representative and consistent practice of
states
▰ Norms (general principles of morality and justice)
❖ UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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4. OBJECTIVES
▰ To understand the obligations imposed on
India/nations
▰ To understand how these instruments are
implemented in India/nations
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5. AREAS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
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DIPLOMACY WAR
HUMAN
RIGHTS ENVIRONMENT
D W
H T

6. WAR
▰ When is it legal?
❖ “just wars” versus wars of aggression
▰ What conduct is legal?
❖ No chemical or biological weapons; no land mines
❖ Non-combatants should not be targeted
❖ Excessive force should be avoided
❖ POW`s (a person who is held captive by a belligerent power
during or immediately after an armed conflict.)
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7. DIPLOMACY
▰ Diplomatic recognition and immunity
▰ Embassies as sovereign territory
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8. HUMAN RIGHT
▰ New and controversial area
❖ How do you define it?
❖ Infringes on national sovereignty
▰ Broad political rights
❖ Helsinki Accords (1970s)
❖ U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)
❖ U.N. Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966)
▰ U.N. Convention Against Torture (1984)
▰ Rights of threatened groups
❖ U.N. Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (1965)
❖ U.N. Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women/CEDAW (1979)
❖ U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)
▰ Genocide (1948 convention)
❖ Rwanda – Bosnia - Sudan? 8

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THANKS!