The Need for Meaningful International Law

This is about the aspirations of humanitarians and international law, how they relate to one another and the criticisms of this relationship. This goes into the heart of the discussion of whether the principles of humanitarianism is compromised and politicized with the enforcement of international law and therefore delving into the shortcomings of international law in its application. There also highlight its successes and draw a conclusion with regards to their relationship.

Humanitarian aspirations are embedded in religious origins of  benevolent, self-less acts to strangers without expecting any recompense. In essence, humanitarians seek to assist victims in need regardless of their political, ethnical or religious affiliations and to do no harm. Humanitarianism is closely linked to legal mechanisms such as the UN Charter, Genocide Convention , Refugee Convention, Security Council Resolutions,  Geneva Conventions and so on . Without these mechanisms most Humanitarian agencies and NGO's would not exist and they work to serve the purposes of such mandates.

The  aspirations of international law are essentially to prevent future war and to make respect for human rights binding. The UN Charter was created with the vision to achieve a new world order with conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising out of international agreement is adhered to. The purpose of international humanitarian law is to stand as a set of rules or guidelines  to limit the effects of armed conflict. World war 2 saw a unified nation trying to achieve a system of international criminal justice, giving rise to a set of international legal mechanisms to hold individuals accountable if such law was breached. In theory these legal instruments set of rules  which everyone should adhere to and practice to promote human rights and end conflict, war and sufferings.  Power and implementation  only once a country has signed, ratified and implemented such instruments. Even after implementation, laws are continuously broken revealing a gap lying between the aspirations of internation and the means to achieve it by humanitarian actors. One of the greatest achievements of effective international law has been with its capacity to give rights to refugees and internally displaced people. This may however be because internally displaced people  and refugees are seen as  stateless people. Even though many states are not party to the Convention of the 1951 or the 1967 protocol,governments may find  themselves under considerable international pressure if refugee rights are set aside. One of the biggest problems concerning implementation of international law is this idea of a state sovereign to be bound by international legal instruments which case the instruments hold authority over the state sovereign. This association of undermining does not only threaten states rules by incompetent rulers but also powerful states, as will be seen in the ways in which treaties are signed, ratified and not implemented.

The more international law allows for politicised humanitarian actions or interventions, the more the basic principles of humanitarianism such as impartiality and independence is compromised. This relationship in effects sees inernational law being used not only as a tool to enforce the positive roles of humanitarian actors trying to achieve humanitarian aspirations but also as actors who may be involved with implementing the law and becoming highly politicised.

It is undeniable that there is and always has been a close link between international law and humanitarianism. Most humanitarian NGOs are embedded in international law mandates. If nothing else, it legalises values that should be practiced universally to eradicate war and suffering. These are the aspiration of humanitarian actors as well. The fact the gap between efficient implementation of international law and the work done by humaniarian actors is a big one should not be used to suggest international law has done nothing for humanitarians. Its wording, implementation, power struggles with incompetent states is a work in progress, with the ICC looking to establish great things that empowers the aspirations of humanitarians.

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