Mission Impossible? International Law and the Changing Character of War
A a participant in the conference “International Law and the Changing Character of War,” in this article I hope to present and support the thesis reflected in the title to this essay, i.e., that the use and abuse of international law and the changing character of war have combined to place major obstacles in the way of the successful prosecution of armed conflict by US forces and their allies. In support of this thesis, I shall be drawing extensively on examples arising out of “the changing character of weapon systems” panel, but I shall also be exploring other dimensions of “the changing character of war” to buttress this support.
The Evolving Dimensions of International Law: Hard Choices for the World Community
1. The multifaceted nature of international law 2. International institutions 3. Who shall enforce the peace? 4. The law of armed conflict 5. Arms control, disarmament, non-proliferation and safeguards 6. Human rights 7. International environmental issues 8. Causes of the present malaise, concluding observations and a prognosis.
The Applicability of International Law Standards to United Nations Economic Sanctions Programmes
In the first half-decade after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the UN Security Council repeatedly decreed mandatory economic sanctions programmes under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. Some of the programmes were severely criticized for their allegedly disproportionate effects on the populations of target states. The authors identify economic sanctions as a coercive instrument and assess the applicability of international law standards. Including the traditional criteria of necessity, proportionality and discrimination, to mandatory UN economic sanctions programmes. After an overview of the theory of economic sanctions and their place among strategic Instruments of enforcement, the authors review the Instances of mandatory UN economic sanctions programmes, assessing their effects on the populations of the target states and the extent of the Council's consideration of international legal norms In designing and carrying out sanctions. Concluding that the Council has given Inadequate consideration to International law standards In Implementing these programmes, the authors propose five legal principles for mandatory economic sanctions programmes: that highly coercive sanctions follow prescribed contingencies; that they be necessary and proportionate; that the sanctloners reasonably maximize discrimination between combatants and non' combatants; that sanctions programmes be periodically assessed; and that relief bt provided to Injured third parties.