By: James G. Apple, Editor-in-Chief, International
Judicial Monitor and President, International Judicial Academy
This Summer 2015 issue of the International Judicial
Monitor is being published in October, 2015. Although it is a little late,
since summer officially ended some weeks ago, the lateness does offer an
opportunity to comment on a significant milestone in human history – the 70th anniversary of the creation of the United Nations.
The United Nations was founded in October, 1945, not long
after the strife of the Second World War ended. One of the significant features
of the UN Charter is its commitment to international law, as expressed very
clearly and especially by the creation of the International Court of Justice
(ICJ). That commitment to international law has waxed and waned over the 70
year UN history, but it is still recognized as an integral part of the UN
structure, and demonstrated by the very large number of institutions,
international laws, peacekeeping missions, cases before the World Court, and
other actions and activities initiated since 1945. The large number of international institutions and bodies that help create and
perpetuate international law, either by specific laws or declarations, or by
actions that create international norms which grow into and form a good part of
the fabric of international law, is demonstrated by a small booklet published
by the American Society of International Law in 2004 in celebration of
its 100th anniversary. The booklet is titled International Law:
100 Ways It Shapes Our Lives. The International Judicial Monitor has
a regular column in every issue that explores one of the 100 ways in more depth
than presented in the booklet. There is a 100 Ways article in this
issue. Many of the 100 ways have behind them initiatives originating in the 70
year existence of the United Nations.
Likewise the work of the International Court of Justice has
substantially increased over those 70 years, because the number of cases filed has
enlarged substantially. There are currently 12 cases pending before the ICJ.
From its establishment in1946 161 cases have been presented to the Court for resolution.
In addition a substantial number of new courts have been
created, some by the United Nations. Others, such as the International Criminal
Court, were established outside the UN.
International law has become a familiar phrase in the
lexicon of governments and leaders of government in those 70 years. At the end
of September of this year, President Obama delivered a speech to the UN General
Assembly in recognition of 70th anniversary of the founding of the
UN. What follows are excerpts from that speech relating to international law:
[T]he United States has worked with many nations
in the is this Assembly…by building an international
system that imposes a cost on those who choose conflict over cooperation, an order that recognizes the
dignity and worth of all people.
[W]e have pressed forward slowly, steadily, to
make a system of international rules and norms that are better
and stronger and more consistent.
It is this international order that has
underwritten unparalleled advances in human liberty and prosperity. It is
this collective endeavor that has brought about diplomatic
cooperation between the world’s major powers, and buttressed a
global economy that has lifted more than a billion people from
poverty. It is these international principles that helped constrain
bigger countries from imposing their will on smaller
ones, and advanced the emergence of democracy and development and
individual liberty on every continent
[W]e see some major powers assert themselves in
ways that contravene international law.
International
Judicial Monitor