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The Minister of External Affairs, Shri Natwar Singh has underlined that International Law is an indispensable instrument to shape a new world order. It cannot acquire the sanctity and universality that are fundamental to its wider acceptance without adequately accommodating and reflecting the needs and aspirations of the developing world. Shri Natwar Singh was inaugurating the Second International Law Conference organized by the Indian Society of International Law, here today.
Shri Natwar Singh said that we require the framework of international law to secure elements of order, continuity, coherence, reciprocity and harmony in international system. "Perhaps one way of seeing the relationship between international relations and international law is to see it as a dynamic process: an interplay between realism and idealism, between the descriptive and the normative. The changes in international relations have to affect the evolution of international law; the basic principles and the framework of international law should guide the behaviour of States," he added.
We are in the midst of such a period today when globalization has fundamentally affected classical notions of sovereignty and the relationships between the State and the citizen and the relationship between States have undergone profound changes. We hear the language of unipolarity in terms of military might and at the same time we see its limitations as also the value of multipolarity in terms of diverse centers of influence, economic power and cultural values", the Minister emphasized.
Underlining that the current situation has lead to important and interesting questions in international law, the Minister posed the following questions to be deliberated by the Conference:-
Doctrines concerning the use of force: Is a doctrine of prevention or preemption, in the face of a perceived threat justified? What are our collective views on the circumstances that legitimize the use of force?
Can there be a coalition of countries resorting to use of force without the UN authorization?
What is to be the response of the international community to the threat of "Weapons of Mass Destruction in the hands of non-State actors?
What is the right balance between the imperatives of national security, which may require restrictions on the freedom of the citizen, and international human rights norms?
How should the international community respond to massive violations of human rights such as genocide?
Outlining India’s perspective on some of these issues, Shri Natwar Singh said that recent events, including developments in Iraq, have led to a renewed debate on the role of the UN and the efficacy of the UN Security Council. The current membership of UN Security Council reflects the results of a war more than 60 years ago and not the current state of the world. We believe that UN should be a democratic institution representing the aspirations of all its members. Reconfiguration and reform of the Security Council is essential not just to reflect changed realities but also to manage the collective security challenges of the future.
The Minister further said that it is evident, even more than before, that terrorism is a global phenomenon transcending borders and regions that requires collective action to combat it. Terrorists do not adhere to universal norms prescribed in Human Rights, or in Humanitarian Law. They violate the most basic human right – the right to life. The brutality of the recent hostage incident in Beslan only goes to prove that even the most innocent and vulnerable members of the society – our children – are not spared by terrorists. The UN Security Council has considered the issue of terrorism from the perspective of the threat it poses to international peace and security. India has welcomed efforts of the UN in this direction, he added.
Shri Natwar Singh also drew attention to India’s initiative for piloting a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT), in 1996.The Indian draft presides a comprehensive legal framework to combat terrorism in the sense that the entire range of devices and substances which can cause damage to persons and properties come within its ambit, he said.
Turning to trade issues, Shri Natwar Singh said that India remains fully committed to the multilateral trading system, and to the successful and timely completion of the Doha Development Agenda. One of the significant achievements in the Framework Agreement is the removal of three of the four Singapore Issues on which we and a large number of developing countries had serious reservations, namely investment, procurement and competition. The modalities for negotiations on Trade Facilitations, the fourth issue, will meet our needs through an extensive provision of Special and Differential Treatment for developing and Least Developed Countries, he added.
On the question of the protection of Intellectual Property Rights, Shri Natwar Singh said that India is itself the repository of Immense Intellectual property and there is no doubt in our minds that intellectual property needs to be protected. The increased resort to the issuance of "bad patents" is a worrying trend. The safeguarding of indigenous knowledge has to increase. Examples of expropriation of traditional knowledge globally are numerous – such as the famous haldi case of India, and this denies value and return to the traditional custodians of such knowledge, Shri Singh added.
Mr. Phillipe Kirsch, President of the International Criminal Court Hague, Prof. Sergio Marchisio, Secretary General of the Italian Society of International Law, Rome and the President of the Indian Society of International Law, Shri Ram Niwas Mirdha also addressed the inaugural session of the four-day conference. Over 70 delegates from 27 countries and seventeen international organizations are participating in the Conference besides an Indian contingent of about 300 delegates.
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