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The International Community and Limitations of Sovereignty

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Mario Bettati
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Public international law is entirely a product of consensualism. The State, which is both the legislator and subject of the world juridical order, only agrees to comply with exterior norms to the extent that it approves of their content. Any treaty, in its contractual nature; any custom, in its consensual nature; any decision of an international organization, in its ability to be en forced, expresses the agreement of the concerned States, whether on a case by case or global basis. National sovereignty is in this way safeguarded. Nothing can be imposed on those who govern without their consent. Indeed, until the middle of the twentieth century, States had succeeded in juridically protecting their free will; or more precisely, their free willfulness. International law required no behavioral norms, and no obligation of tolerance, in regard to a State's own nationals.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 44 , Issue 176 , December 1996 , pp. 91 - 109
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

References

Notes

1. See M. Bettati, Le Droit d'ingérence, mutation de l'ordre international, Paris, 1996.

2. R. Cassin, "Comment protéger les droits de l'homme," delivered on 13 Feb ruary 1970 and quoted in: M. Agi, De l'Idée d'universalité comme fondatrice du concept des droits de l'homme d'après la vie et l'oeuvre de René Cassin, Antibes, 1980, p. 354.

3. Repr. in: La Pensée et l'action, Paris, 1972, pp. 63-71.

4. J. Combacau, "Souveraineté et non-ingérence," in: M. Bettati, B. Kouchner et al., Le Devoir d'ingérence, Paris, 1987, pp. 230-1.

5. In: Cahiers de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle, 120 (1958), p. 97.

6. See Assemblée générale, Documents officiels, troisième session, 9 décembre 1948, première partie.

7. See Article 1 of the Convention for the prevention of genocide, adopted by the General Assembly of the U.N. in Paris on 9 December 1948.

8. R. Cassin (note 2 above), p. 217.

9. The signatories of the letter demanding that the question be put on the agenda of the Third Commission of the General Assembly were: Andorra, Austria, Bolivia, Cape Verdian Islands, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Equador, Gambia, Greece, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Micronesia, Monaco, Namibia, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Portugal, Romania, Saint-Marin, Salomon Islands, Sweden, Uruguay, Vanuatu, and Venezuela.

10. United Nations, Press Release AG/SHC/149, 16 November 1994, p. 13.

11. Ibid., p. 14.

12. S. P. Huntington, "The Clash of Civilizations?" in: Foreign Affairs, Fall 1993, pp. 22-49. Other European authors have written in the same vein, see R.-J. Dupuy, "Les Ambiguitiés de l'universalisme," in: Mélanges Virally, Paris, 1991, pp. 273-79; L.C. green, "Universality and Modern International Law," in: I. Taberner and M. J. Pelaez (eds.), Ciencia Politica comparada y derecho y economia en las relaciones internacionales estudios en homenaje a Ferran Valls, Vol. XXII, Barcelona, 1993, pp. 6763-91.

13. S. P. Huntington (note 12 above), pp. 40-1. On the overall problem of the uni versality of human rights see C. M. Cerna, "Universality of Human Rights in Different Socio-Cultural Contexts," in: Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 4 (November 1994), pp. 740-53; C. Makhlouf Obermeyer, "A Cross-Cultural Perspective on Reproductive Rights," in: Ibid., Vol. 17, No. 3 (May 1995), pp. 366-82; J. M. Peek, "Buddhism, Human Rights and the Japanese State," in: Ibid., Vol. 17, No. 4 (November 1995), pp. 527-41; H. Bielefeldt, "Muslim Voices in the Human Rights Debate," in: Ibid., pp. 587-617.

14. K. Mahbubani, "The Dangers of Decadence. What the Rest Can Teach the West," in: Foreign Affairs, September/October 1993, p. 10; B. Kausikan, "Asia's Different Standard," in: Foreign Policy, 92 (1993), pp. 24-31.

15. Quoted in: Far Eastern Economic Review, 7 April 1994.

16. J. Bodin, Les Six Livres de la République (1583). See also the essay by G. Mairet in: F. Chatelet, O. Duhamel and E. Pisier (eds.), Dictionnaire des oeuvres poli tiques, Paris, 1986.

17. Quoted by A. Truyol Serra, "Souveraineté," in: Vocabulaire fondamental du droit (Archives de philosophie du droit), Vol. 35, Paris, 1990, p. 317.

18. H. Grotius, Le Droit de la guerre et de la paix, Amsterdam 1729, Vol. I, p. 150.

19. Ibid., p. 178.

20. G. Scelle, Précis de droit des gens, Paris, 1932, p.12.

21. M. Virally, "Panorama du droit international contemporain. Cours général de droit international public, in: Recueil des Cours de l'Académie de droit inter national de la Haye, Vol. V, The Hague, 1983, p. 124; A. Cassese, "La Valeur actuelle des droits de l'homme," in: Mélanges René-Jean Dupuy. Humanité et droit international, Paris 1991, pp. 65-75; G. Cohen-Jonathan, "Responsibilité pour atteinte aux droits de l'homme," in: Société française pour le droit inter national (colloque du Mans), La Responsabilité dans le système international, Paris, pp. 101-35; idem, "La Protection internationale des droits de l'homme dans le cadre des organisations régionales," in: La Documentation française. Documents d'études. Droit International Public, No. 3.05 (July 1989); idem, "La Protection internationale des droits de l'homme dans le cadre des organisa tions universelles," in: Ibid., No. 3.06 (April 1990); idem, La Convention européenne des droits de l'homme, Paris-Aix-Marseille, 1989; P.-M. Dupuy, "L'In dividu et le droit internationale," in: Archives de philosophie de droit. Droit inter national, 32 (1987), pp. 119-33; B. Mangan, "Protecting Human Rights in National Emergencies. Shortcomings in the European System and Proposal for Reform," in: Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 3 (1988), pp. 372-94; Th. Meron, Human Rights in International Strife. Their International Protection, Cam bridge, 1987; B.G. Ramcharan, "Strategies for the International Protection of Human Rights in the 1990s," in: Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 13, No. 2 (May 1991), pp. 155-69; M. Reisman, "Sovereignty and Human Rights in Contem porary International Law," in: American Journal of International Law, Vol. 84, No. 3 (July 1990), pp. 866-76.

22. Latin expression meaning "with regard to all." In international law it refers to the absolute opposability of a rule, even with regard to third states.

23. Cours international de justice, Recueil des Arrêts, 1970, p. 32.

24. Article 18.

25. Official Documents of the U.N. General Assembly, 45th Session, A/45/587, 27 October 1990, Paragraph 26.

26. Minutes of the U.N. Security Council, 2982nd Session (1991), pp. 3-5.

27. Curiously, no-one was alarmed about the threat to peace posed by the Turkish army when - four years later - it moved across the border to crack down on the PKK in Kurdistan.

28. See the Report by the Secretary General, 17 August 1993 (S/26317), Paragraph 45.

29. Minutes of the U.N. Security Council, 3447th Session (4 November 1994), pp. 2-14.

30. See R. Brauman, Le Crime humanitaire: Somalie, Paris, 1993; M. Klen, "L'Enfer somalien," in: Défense nationale, February 1993, pp. 135-43; S. Smith, Somalie. La Guerre perdue de l'humanitaire, Paris, 1993; J. Stevenson, "Hope Restored in Somalia?" in: Foreign Policy, No. 91 (Fall 1993), pp. 138-72.