NEW DELHI, Nov 14: Flagging the issue of conflict between international laws and national sovereignty, Vice-President Hamid Ansari today cautioned against “blind implementation” of international trade commitments which can put local “cherished” legal cultural approaches at risk.
He pitched for handling “legal cultural disconnects” in application of international laws to help advance goals of international trade.
Ansari said certain scholars and political leaders feel that modern developments relating to international laws and commitments of government towards them endanger nation states by taking power away from the governments and ceding it to international bodies such as the UN and the World Bank.
The Vice President said the conflict between international law and national sovereignty is today the subject to vigorous debates and there is a growing trend towards judging a State’s domestic actions in the light of international law and standards.
“It is the general belief that the nation-state is the primary unit of international affairs, and only States may choose to voluntarily enter into commitments,” he said inaugurating the fourth Biennial Conference of Asian Society of International Law here.
The theme for this year’s conference is ‘Asia and international law in the 21st century: new horizons’.
He hoped the experts attending the conference will come up with specific recommendations for handling such legal cultural disconnects, “so as to advance both the goals of international trade and the survival of local, unique and cherished legal cultural approaches that would otherwise be at risk from a blind implementation of international trade commitments.”
Addressing the gathering, Xue Hanquin, a judge from China and a member of the International Court of Justice said Asia in particular faces new challenges, some relating to “sensitive” territorial disputes.
“In seeking peaceful settlements of our differences, we need political vision and wisdom as well as legal innovation. Of course we are not advocating regionalism in international law. But application of international law must take care of our regional characteristics and cultural diversity,” Hanquin said.
She said she was confident that differences could be settled through peaceful means for permanent stability of the region.
The Vice President was of the view that international law was essentially concerned with political and economic relations between the States and also between States, the United Nations and other international organisations.
He said since the 1990s and in the first decade of 21st century, international law has witnessed a significant evolution in both substantive and institutional terms.
“It has now developed into an extensive web of rules and institutions, which also concern and address the role and responsibilities of non-state actors, including individuals.
“Today, international law touches the lives of millions by addressing trade and business, trans-national crimes, human trafficking, climate change, terrorism, cyber crime, corruption, torture, intellectual property rights, child rights, women’s rights, rights of the disabled, piracy and a host of other issues,” he pointed out. (PTI)
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