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March 2023 - Extra-Territorial Violations of Human Rights:Transcription -Eli Hatam. IS THERE ANYMORE AN INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC LAW

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9 March 2023 - Extra-Territorial Violations of Human Rights:Transcription -Eli Hatam. IS THERE ANYMORE AN INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC LAW

is there anymore an international public law?

Eli Hatam

 

In recent years, international practice no longer corresponds to the theory of international law whose principles and rules are violated and flouted: the principle of the sovereignty of states, that of their equality, the principle of non-interference and non-resort to violence in international relations and their corollaries...

 

Unfortunately, these increased and continued violations of international public law are not sanctioned. This calls into question the very existence of international law, since a norm cannot exist unless it is respected. Therefore, its violation should be punished. The lack of sanction of international norms creates disorder in the sense that these norms and principles remain purely theoretical. This leads us to ask the question of the interest of this matter devoid of practical application. Moreover, this situation is dangerous because it leads the international society to turn into a jungle where the strongest imposes its will on the weakest. And, a coalition of the weakest may form to fight the strongest by turning into a real power.

 

Indeed, since the end of the bipolarization, the world has witnessed a disorder gradually established and the predominance of a superpower, that of the United States, erected as the "policeman of the world", which dictates its rules and imposes them on the entire planet with impunity.

 

We have all witnessed American military interventions and invasions around the world, particularly in Iraq with fallacious arguments and with total disregard for the norms and principles of international law.

 

The US government does not hesitate to commit crimes through its agents, believing it can do justice, by assassinating its political opponents. I am thinking here of the murder of Mr. Kasim Suleimani, a citizen of a Member State of the United Nations : Iran.

 

This act is a clear and simple crime for which the perpetrators must be brought to justice, whether they are legal or natural persons. No procedure has been initiated to date to identify the perpetrators of this crime and to pursue and convict them. This difficulty also stems from the fact that the United States of America has not acceded to the Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court.

 

Likewise, we are witnessing, in a permanent and increasing manner, the "imposition" of international sanctions on Washington's political opponents, some of which are extraterritorial. These acts undermine the sovereignty of states and the freedom of trade and international transactions.

 

On the other hand, among Washington's political allies, those who manifestly commit internationally unlawful acts are not troubled by sanctions.

 

By way of illustration, I would mention Israel which has violated thousands of United Nations resolutions, some of them from the Security Council, and which permanently commits acts of violence, war crimes and genocide, without being troubled.

 

The world is witnessing, in silence, a progressive extermination of the Palestinian people, a war crime and crime against humanity, committed by military forces of a self-proclaimed state entity and imposed as such, by coercion, at the end of the Second World War.

 

This permanent and obvious violation of international principles and norms is no longer sanctioned or even condemned by any international body, in particular by the United Nations.

 

Indeed, this organization whose headquarters is in New York has fallen under the hegemony of Washington.

 

My mentor, the late Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former Secretary General of the UN, was a witness to this. He was subjected to pressure from the United States who, in his words, wanted a "Secretary" from him while he had erected himself as a "General".

 

It was after his written condemnation of the extermination of the inhabitants of the city of Cana in Southern Lebanon by the Israeli army that Mrs. Madeleine Albright, then Secretary of State in the US Government, threatened him by telling him that his written condemnation of this massacre was his last written work within the United Nations.

Alas, such is the reality of international society which has gone from order to great disorder. But let's not lose hope.

 

We are assisting to a gradual transformation of the world, unfortunately at the cost of a disastrous and regrettable war, that between the United States and their allies with Russia on Ukrainian territory.

 

But, in the same time, we are witnessing the emergence of a "New Free World", thirsting for peace, freedom and respect for law.

 

This "New Free World" is made up of the majority of the countries and nations of the planet, eager to defend their sovereignty, independence and existence of civilization against globalization, the world of finance, the big media, the GAFA, and to get out of this international dictatorship without an apparent dictator.

 

This includes the majority of countries in Latin America, the African continent, a good number of European nations, Russia and its allies, China and the Asian continent, including India and Pakistan, the Middle East, including Iran.

 

This "New Free World" is called upon to meet, to join together and to be structured, by setting up a new world organization to replace the United Nations, whose failure in its mission is obvious, like the failure of the League of Nations.

 

It is time to restore international law and allow it to be applied, so that it can condemn any violation of its principles and rules.

 

It is with this ray of hope that I launch this appeal and I hope that States will take on the implementation of this project by organizing an intergovernmental conference to define, in detail, the objectives of this new organization and the modalities of its operation, as well as elements related to its headquarters, away from the capitals of the major powers, in order to avoid interference from national political bodies as is currently the case with the UN. This headquarters could be on a deserted island that will be endowed with international moral personality and will host the different organs of this new world organization.

 

This is the message that I am conveying as I take advantage of this conference.

 

 

                                                                                    Elie HATEM

                                                                                    Doctor of Law

                                                                                    Barrister-at-Law

                                                                                    Paris Bar Association and International

                                                                                    Criminal Court (The Hague)