If Washington is tempted to "do the convenient rather than the principled thing" and dismiss the ICC tribunal, it would undermine "one of the greatest achievements of postwar American leadership: the development of international humanitarian law". Both Israel and the US do not recognise the ICC's jurisdiction, and it "doesn't have its own police force or army – a recurring problem with enforcing international law in general". The law of war also "began eroding" partly because conflict "increasingly involves non-state actors", such as Islamic State or Hamas, blurring "the crucial distinction" on which humanitarian law rests, said Kluth. "In many ways the notion of international law is a fantasy," said Michael Sexton for The Australian, as the only law that can be enforced within a country "is that created by its own domestic political processes". It is tempting to conclude that international laws "hold little meaning today", said Hathaway, but "even a hobbled system of international humanitarian law has made conflict more humane".

Source: International New York Times May 02, 2024 14:03 UTC