1. International Relations
(Course Overview & Introduction)
by Karwan Dana
Ishik University

2. ALL BOUT ME Law Lecturer at Ishik University
Karwan Dana
Law Lecturer at Ishik University
Lawyer at Ministry of Natural Resources (RKG).
PH.D (Student) University of Wolverhampton, School of Law UK.
Masters in law University of Birmingham UK.
Bachelor University of Wolverhampton, School of Law, social sciences communication UK.

3. Two Questions What is international law?
Does such a thing really exist?
How is international law enforced?
Isn’t it really just a matter of power politics?
Current members: There are 193 United Nations (UN) member states, and each of them is a member of the United Nations General Assembly.

4. Sources of International Law
Explicit agreements (Treaties, conventions, protocols)
UN Charter
Geneva Convention
Kyoto Protocol
Customary Law (like “common law”)
General, representative and consistent practice of states
Norms (general principles of morality and justice)
UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights1948 Ok
accompanied by the so-called opinio juris, i.e. the conviction of States that the practice or set of practices is required by law. Judgments and awards of international tribunals as well as scholarly summaries have traditionally been looked to as persuasive sources for such legal principles in addition to direct evidence of state behavior
c) UN Declaration in 1948: Doesn’t have the force of law, but outlines norms and principles that frown upon political repression, the use of torture, etc.

5. Contracts for the International Sale of Goods
1980
Adopted in 53 countries, including U.S.
Similar to Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)
law of sales and other commercial transactions across the United States of America (U.S.) through UCC adoption by all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories.

6. Treaties and International Trade Organizations
WTO/GATT 1995
Outlaws tariff discrimination
Most favored nation status
Outlaws nontariff barriers
Caps tariffs

7. International Courts WTO dispute resolution
Trade disputes between member nations
May order retaliatory trade sanctions

8. International Law Principles
Sovereign immunity
Equality of countries
Each country sovereign nation
No country subject to another’s laws without consent
International commercial transactions are voluntary – subjects country’s government to civil suits

9. Question One: What IS International Law?

10. Areas of International Law
diplomacy
war
I’ll save a discussion of international environmental law for a later day.
environment
human
rights

11. War When is it legal? What conduct is legal?
“just wars” versus wars of violence
What conduct is legal?
No chemical or biological weapons; no land mines
Non-combatants should not be targeted
Excessive force should be avoided
prisoner of war POWs
UN charter distinguishes between the two. Under Article 51, a country is permitted to wage a war to defend itself against an imminent threat. Israel used this language to justify its decision to bomb and thus destroy the Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981 (an Iraqi facility); Bush administration invoked it again in 2003 to justify the invasion of Iraq. But many legal scholars, and now the UN Secretary-General, don’t accept that argument. They call the invasion of Iraq illegal.
legal behavior
Chemical weapons banned in 1925 Geneva protocol. Production and possession restricted further in the 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention. Biological weapons also curbed under a convention signed in 1972
civilians should be protected
proportionality
Specific rules to protect prisoners of war from being abused or humiliated. After Saddam’s capture, U.S. news media reported him being checked for head lice. Broadcast of such pics violated rules against mistreatment of POWs.

12. Human Rights 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?
Are there such things as international human rights? Targeted countries complain that their internal affairs – and thus their sovereign rights – are abridged in these cases.
U.S. and Soviet Union reached Helsinki accords to promote rights of political dissidents in the Soviet bloc. UN convenants also approved to ensure such rights, and to give basic “right to survive” to individuals.
Torture
CEDAC includes language on comparable worth; Convention on rights of child includes controversial language re: information on sex and sexual reproduction. Should parents be upset?
1994 genocide declared such only after the fact – a human rights tribunal in Tanzania; Bosnian atrocities led to war crimes tribunal in the Hague. U.S. has called crisis in Sudan a case of genocide – but UN hasn’t acted yet.

13. U.S. and Human Rights Champion? Hypocrite?
Led campaign for rights in Soviet Union, then China
Hypocrite?
U.S. trained torturers during Cold War; and used torture at Guantanamo and in Iraq
Targets counter that U.S. itself has largest number of prisoners; a vast population of poor and homeless; persistent racism
U.S. hasn’t ratified many human rights conventions
Economic, social and cultural rights
Elimination of discrimination against women
Rights of child
Convention on Economic, social, and cultural rights – Congress doesn’t like restrictions on overtime pay, etc. that are viewed in the U.S. as private matters.
Convention to Eliminate Discrimination Against Women – language on comparable worth for female workers.
Convention on the Rights of a Child: concern about child soldiers (17); and about capital punishment of juvenile offenders.

14. Superpower Exceptionalism
Not just on human rights conventions
U.S. also has not ratified
ILO conventions on labor rights (1950s)
CTBT
Convention on the Law of the Seas
Land Mine treaty
Global Warming (Kyoto) protocol

15. Question Two: How is it enforced?

16. Supranational Enforcement?
Well, no … not really

17. Option #1 International Court of Justice

18. ICJ = World Court A branch of the UN 15 judges
meets in The Hague (Netherlands)
he city is also home to the U.N.’s International Court of Justice, headquartered in the Peace Palace, and the International Criminal Court.
15 judges
serving nine-year terms
selected by UN
Hears cases brought by states against other states
Example: border disputes (Honduras v. El Salvador)
Despite a formal peace treaty, a decision by the International Court of Justice, the support of the OAS and more than 40 years having passed, the dispute remains
Jurisdiction? Shaky
U.S. and mining of Nicaragua’s harbor (1986)
On Nicaragua vs. U.S.: the latter simply withdrew from the optional clause of the ICJ charter, and thereby evaded jurisdiction.

19. Nicaragua v. The United States of America (1986
The first armed intervention by the United States in Nicaragua occurred under President Taft. In 1909, he ordered the overthrow of Nicaraguan President José Santos Zelaya. During August and September 1912, a contingent of 2300 U.S. Marines landed at the port of Corinto and occupied León and the railway line to Granada. A pro-U.S. government was formed under the occupation. The 1914 Bryan–Chamorro Treaty granted perpetual canal rights to the U.S. in Nicaragua and was signed ten days before the U.S.-operated Panama Canal opened for use, thus preventing anyone from building a competing canal in Nicaragua without U.S. permission.
The Republic of Nicaragua v. The United States of America (1986) ICJ 1 is a public international law case decided by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The ICJ ruled in favor of Nicaragua and against the United States and awarded reparations to Nicaragua. The ICJ held that the U.S. had violated international law by supporting the Contras in their rebellion against the Nicaraguan government and by mining Nicaragua's harbors. The United States refused to participate in the proceedings after the Court rejected its argument that the ICJ lacked jurisdiction to hear the case. The U.S. also blocked enforcement of the judgment by the United Nations Security Council and thereby prevented Nicaragua from obtaining any compensation.[2] Nicaragua, under the later, post-FSLN government of Violeta Chamorro, withdrew the complaint from the court in September 1992 following a repeal of the law which had required the country to seek compensation.
The Court found in its verdict that the United States was "in breach of its obligations under customary international law not to use force against another State", "not to intervene in its affairs", "not to violate its sovereignty", "not to interrupt peaceful maritime commerce", and "in breach of its obligations under Article XIX of the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between the Parties signed at Managua on 21 January 1956."

20. An Example of Shaming: Canada and Harp Seal Pups
In 1980s, Greenpeace publicized seal hunting in Newfoundland, creating international uproar. Canada was shamed into cracking down on the seal hunters, and bringing that country into compliance with the Convention on the Protection of Marine Mammals.

21. So who’s right?
Realists or Liberals?

22. Introduction to International Law

23. Overview of International Treaty Law, the UN Office of Legal Affairs and Treaty Section directives Karwan Dana

24. Intro to International law cont..
International law is the set of rules generally regarded and accepted as binding in relations between states and between nations. 
It serves as a framework for the practice of stable and organized international relations.
International law differs from state-based legal systems in that it is primarily applicable to countries rather than to private citizens.

25. History international law
Basic concepts of international law such as treaties can be traced back thousands of years. Early examples of treaties an agreement between the rulers of the city-states of Lagash and Umma in Mesopotamia, inscribed on a stone block, setting a prohibited boundary between their two states.
Around 1000BC, an agreement was signed between Ramses II of Egypt and the king of the Hittites establishing "eternal peace and brotherhood" between their two nations: dealing with respect for each other’s territory and establishing a form of defensive alliance.

26. Roman Empire
The Roman Empire did not develop an international law, as it acted without regard to any outside rules in its dealings with those territories that were not already part of the empire.
The Romans did, however, form public laws governing the interactions between private Roman citizens and foreigners. These laws, codified some ideas of basic fairness, and credited some rules to an objective, independent "natural law." ideas of fairness and natural law have survived and are reflected in modern international law.

27. International law has three disciplines:
Public international law, which governs the relationship between states and international entities, it includes a number of laws such as:
Treaty law, law of sea, international criminal law, the law of war or IHL, international human rights and refugee law

28. International law has three disciplines
Private international law, or conflict of laws, this addresses the questions of …
1- which jurisdiction may hear a case, 2- the law of which jurisdiction applies to the issues in the case

29. First, states and their elements?
The State is a human institution. Thus, population is the first and foremost element.
No state can be imagined without the people, as there must be some to rule and others to be ruled.
It is however, difficult to fix the size of the population of a state. For the Greek Philosopher Plato, the ideal state should not contain more than 5040 people. But Rousseau the French Philosopher would treat 10,000 inhabitants as the ideal population.

30. Fourth Element
The fourth essential element of the state is sovereignty. It is that important element which distinguishes the state from all other associations.
The word 'Sovereignty' means supreme and final legal authority and beyond which no further legal power exists.

31. What is a “Treaty” The Vienna Convention 1969 defines a treaty as
"an international agreement concluded between States in written form and governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related instruments and whatever its particular designation" (article 2(1)(a)).
Congress of Vienna ( ) “There is always an alternative to conflict”

32. What is a treaty? Article 2(1) (a) of the VCLT defines a treaty as:
“treaty” means an international agreement concluded between States in written form and governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related instruments and whatever its particular designation;

33. Treaties
Treaties are basically contracts between countries. They are agreements by which the parties intend to be bound. If treaties are broken, their value is damaged because there is no guarantee that future promises will be kept. So there is a strong incentive for nations to take treaties very seriously.
Modern nations engage in a two-step procedure for entering into treaties. The first step is signing the treaty. Being a signatory to a treaty means that a country intends to enter into the agreement. The second step is ratifying the treaty. A country that has ratified a treaty has gone beyond merely intending to enter into the agreement, and is now bound by it. This is a critical distinction, and sometimes a point of confusion. A nation may be a signatory to a treaty for many years without ever having ratified it.
Each country ratifies treaties its own way. The United States requires the two-thirds support of the Senate, the upper body of its legislature, for a treaty to be ratified; both the executive and the legislature must agree. In Canada, on the other hand, ratification is strictly an executive action, and no parliamentary approval is required before the nation is bound.

34. Modern treaties
Modern treaties are interpreted according to the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. This convention is so widely accepted that even nations that are not parties to the convention follow it.
The convention's most important and sensible rule is that a treaty should be interpreted according to the plain meaning of its language, in the context of its purpose, and in good faith. This prevents much squabbling and unnecessary nit-picking. It also makes treaty authors spell out what they are trying to accomplish, to make interpretation easier, in a non- binding "preamble.“
In the modern world, international law is contested for its inability to enforce its rulings.

35. Modern customary
Modern customary international law. An important development in modern international law is the concept of "consent."
Before World War II, a nation would not have been considered to be bound by a rule unless it had formally agreed to be bound by it, or it was already customarily abiding by that rule.
Now, however, merely consenting to an international practice is sufficient to be bound by it, without signing a treaty.

36. International Law and the importance of treaties
In the last decades, relations among States have become increasingly complex – heightening the need to strengthen and promote international law and the rule of law at the national and international levels.
The United Nations Secretary-General has, in numerous statements and reports, consistently emphasized the importance of participation in and the domestic implementation of treaty-based norms and international legal principals.

37. LAW
National Law
Foreign Law
International Law

38. International Law

39. International Law Treaties
International Law defines the legal responsibilities of States in their conduct with each other, and their treatment of individuals within State boundaries.
Its area includes a wide range of issues of international concern such as human rights, disarmament, international crime, refugees, migration, problems of nationality, the treatment of prisoners, the use of force, and the conduct of war, among others.

40. It also regulates the global commons, such as the environment, sustainable development, international waters, outer space, global communications and world trade.
More than 500 multilateral treaties have been deposited with secretary – General of the UN. Many other treaties are deposited with governments and other entities. General Assembly is the main deliberative body of the United Nations

41. When the treaties are adopted by it, is subsequently opened for signature and ratification by the member states of the UN.
The General Assembly has adopted a number of multilateral treaties throughout its history, including:
International covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted by UN General Assembly in 1966: these treaties declares that civil and political rights and human rights are fundamental freedoms.

42. To become party to a treaty, a State must express, through a concrete act, its willingness to undertake the legal rights and obligations contained in the treaty – it must “consent to be bound” by the treaty.
This is usually accomplished through signature and ratification of the treaty, or if it’s already in force, by accession to it.
Each year, the UN holds a Treaty Event, highlighting a group of treaties, as a way to encourage Member States to sign, ratify or otherwise support these treaties.

43. The Union citizenship and Directive 38/2004/CE

44. Directive 2004/38/EC
European Parliament and Council Directive 2004/38/EC of 29 April is about the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the EU and EEA member states.
This new directive brings together most of the piecemeal measures found in European law previously. The new measures are designed, among other things, to encourage Union citizens to exercise their right to move and reside freely within Member States, to cut back administrative formalities to the bare essentials, to provide a better definition of the status of family members and to limit the scope for refusing entry or terminating the right of residence.
Also it broadens the definition of family to also include non-married partners.

45. Who is covered by Directive 2004/38/EC?
Citizens of an EU or EEA member state who visit, live, study or work in a different member state
The EU citizen’s direct family members, including their non-EU spouse and the spouse’s direct family members (such as children)
Other family members who are “beneficiaries”, including common law partners, same sex partners, and dependent family members, members of the household, and sick family members

46. What is covered?
No-cost, easy, fast issue of visas
Easy right to stay for up to 90 days if so desired.  EU citizens and their non-EU family can work if desired in this period, or play.
Easy right to stay longer if the EU citizen is working, is a student, or has medical insurance and is self sufficient
Permanent residence after 5 years
Right of facilitated entry if passports have been lost, or if a visa has not been obtained
Applications can only be turned down in three limited circumstances (public health, public policy, national security), or when a marriage is determined to be fraudulent.  Reasons for refusal must be spelled out in detail and there is a right of appeal.
EU citizens and their non-EU family members can not legally be treated differently than citizens of their EU host country

47. How does Directive 2004/38 protect the interests of the States?
Free movement for many, but not for all
First 3 months: no right to social assistance benefits under the directive and removal if the citizen of the Union becomes an unreasonable burden on the social assistance system of the MS
Up to permanent residence:
Right to reside if and until the citizen of the Union is economically self- sufficient
Entitlement to social assistance benefits, but the State may check if the citizen of the Union still meets the conditions for residence
Departure on grounds of public order and public security
Regulation No 1612/68 of the Council, Art. 12)