International Security Part 17

The Ethnic and Religious Profiling of Noncitizens: National Security and International Human Rights
Stephen Legomsky
Boston College Third World Law Journal
Volume 25, Number 1, Winter 2005

[Articles] The Exception as the Rule: Lawmaking on Force and Human Rights by the UN Security Council
Osterdahl, I.
Journal of Conflict and Security Law
Volume 10, Number 1, Spring 2005

When the UN Security Council began authorising humanitarian interventions, its decisions were circumscribed by references to the unique and exceptional character of every situation dealt with. From the point of view of lawmaking, whether the Security Council claims that every situation is unique is of no significance as long as there is a consistent practice to the contrary. Even though the practice may in many respects be labelled ‘ad-hocish’, this article argues that there exists nevertheless a repeated if not consistent practice on the part of the Security Council on humanitarian intervention. The practice of the Security Council outweighs the words of the Council aiming to circumscribe the legal effects of its action. The immediate legal effect of the authorisations to use force to protect human rights relates to the mandate of the Security Council under the UN Charter. Indirectly, the practice of the Security Council on humanitarian intervention may also have an impact on general international law on the use of force. Perhaps, the repeated practice of the Security Council has paved the way for unilateral action in cases where the Council still cannot agree. All the decisions of the Security Council on humanitarian intervention are gone through in the article, which finds that in time the scrupulous circumscription of the authorisations to use force to protect human rights has disappeared from the resolutions of the Security Council. Then it becomes even easier to argue that the practice of the Security Council, although still ‘ad-hocish’, does make law.

[Articles] Head of State Immunity in the Light of Multiple Legal Regimes and Non-Self-Contained System Theories: Theoretical Analysis of ICC Third Party Jurisdiction Against the Background of the 2003 Iraq War
Bantekas, I.
Journal of Conflict and Security Law
Volume 10, Number 1, Spring 2005

International Criminal Law is characterised by a multiplicity of legal regimes; those comprising the family of domestic law; international criminal tribunal regimes that are susceptible only to the law circumscribed by the Security Council and which can differ from general international law; and international criminal tribunals whose competence is delineated by general international law. Within this variety of legal regimes the concept of immunity does not have uniform application, and conflicts between the regimes as such are obvious. The rejection of immunity ratione personae in the legal regimes composed by international tribunals is an exception to the general rule applicable in the regime of domestic criminal laws. An elaboration of our noncontained system theory attempts to demonstrate that the third party rule (in treaty law and by extension to legal regimes) cannot be sustained as legitimate on many occasions.

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

International Criminal Law, International Security.