legal WO

state sovreingty - syria

• russian vetos are putting UN security councils legitimacy at risk, says USʼ,the guardian 2015 

• lack of substantial and effective action in the face of the Syrian conflicts as a result of Russia's veto,

• Russian government rendered the security council paralysed due to failure to agree on action to control the conflict, despite the deaths for over 220,000 Syrians and the displacement of 11 million

• Russia has used their veto 4 times to block resolutions with the power to end the conflict. This demonstrates the ineffectiveness of the security council as a mechanism to maintain world order and peace, preventing action from happening and allowing devastating conflict to continue through the power of the veto.

state sovreigty - israel

А history of the US blocking UN resolutions against israelʼ aljazeera 2021,

• US using their veto to block resolutions against Israel that call for ceasefire and commencement of peace talks, 

• US has vetoed over 53 UN resolutions towards Israel, preventing world peace and order. In 1990, they stopped calls for an investigation into the killing of seven palestinian workers by a former Israeli soldier,

• More recently blocking calls for ceasefire in the Israel Palestine conflict, a move that critics say encourages the disproportionate uses of force against the Palestinians, including the bombardment of the gaza strip with has killed more than 200 Palestinians. 

state sovreigty - gaza

• ʼUN resoltion on gaza aid criticised as insufficient, meaninglessʼ al jazeera 2023

• neffectivity of the security council due to having to appease all the main members in order to avoid getting vetoed, watering down resolutions to the point that they aren't doing anything beneficial.

• UN passed a resolution for more aid in Gaza, however due to US adversity it was significantly changed to the point of ineffectivity, calling for steps to create conditions for a sustainable ceasefire, not the original ceasefire it was meant to call. 

• need to appease permanent members in order to avoid vetoes often results in diluted resolutions that fail to meaningfully maintain world order and global peace.

the ICC - congolese

• Landmark ICC verdict over use of child soldiers - amnesty international

• Prosecuted the leader of the congolese armed group for crimes against humanity and war crimes for using children in armed conflict

• Demonstrates the power and success of the ICC to prosecute international criminals who have committed previous crimes against the international community, significantly promoting and maintaining world order, holding individuals accountable while acting as a deterrent for others.

• “The conviction of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, the leader of a Congolese armed group, for using children in armed conflict shows the International Criminal Court (ICC) can bring the world’s worst offenders to justice for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, Amnesty International said.

ICC - putin/netnyahu

• ʼa former prosecutor thinks vladmir putin and benjamin netanyahu may never face the ICCʼ abc 2025

• Demonstrates the lack of enforceability of the ICC as they cant prosecute putin and netanyahu because their countries havent signed the rome statute, preventing them from maintaining world order

ICC - effective

• “It is difficult to prosecute when it is impossible to enforce arrest warrants and the states do not comply with the ICC. The inability of the ICC to pressure these states into compliance also shows its limited capacity.” 

• The icc has prosecuted very few cases compared to the number of crimes it could investigate - out of thousands of crimes only 44 have been indicted and out of that only 9 cases have fully succeded

• Demonstrating how if states refuse to cooperate and enforce its decisions, the ICC struggles to operate preventing them from maintaining world order

ICC - syria

• State sovreignty of the security council blocking it - vetos betray syrian victims HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 2014

• Attempts to refer the situation in syria, backed by 60 counties and 100 ngos have been blocked by russia and china using their state sovreigntiy to veto the resolution, betraying the victims of serious war crimes in syria who deserve justice 

• Limits the ability of the icc to promote and maintain world order as it cannot consistently prosecute perpetrators or enforce international criminal law when states prioritise national sovereignty over international cooperation.

CWC - context

• Created and enforced by the OPCW in 1997, it works to prohibit the use of chemical weapons in warfare, effectively promoting world order through implementing near universal legislation that prevents the use, stockpiling and development of a weapon of mass destruction and devastation. It has 193 members, encouraging global cooperation towards enforcing legislation and preventing use and creating a global norm that the use of chemical weapons is unacceptable, placing signifncant pressure on non complying states.

• effectiveness:

• 100% of declared chemical weapons stockpliels have been destryed

• 98% of the populaiton lives under it

CWC - effectievness

• Arms controll association - the cwc is stronger that you think 2023

• The CWC is highly successful, with all 72,304 metric tons of declared chemical weapons stockpiles destroyed

CWC- syria - effecitve

• UN security council agrees to rid syria of chemical weapons, endorses peace process UN 2013

• In response to chemical bombing in Syria by the Assad government against civilians in 2012 the UN worke with the opc to powerfully respond to this, with the security council unanimously adopting resolution 2118 resulting in the destruction and prevention of syria acquiring any chemical warfare and forcing Syria to sign the convention

• Demonstrates the strength of the treaty to unite the security council, leading to international cooperation and a step towards peace.

CWC - syria - neg

• Arms control association ʼhold syria accountable on the cwc 2016ʼ

• Despite having ratified the CWC, OPCW found that Assad's regime continued to drop bombs filled with chlorine onto civilian areas

• There is no current mechanism to hold Assad accountable and ensure criminal justice for the chemical weaponry abuses, fuelling more atrocities

  • Russia and China blocked a UN resolution that would have referred the situation to the ICC

CWC - russia

• The chemical weapons accusations agaisnt general killed in mosow the guradian 2024

• Ukriane says 48000 uses of chemical weapons have been documented since rebuarey 20233

• Drones used to drop gas grenades on ukraninan foroces, chocking soldiers or frocing them into open so they can be picked off

the media - positives

• Michelle obama → # bringbackourgirls campaign in response to an Individual in nigeria  committing war crimes through the kidnapping 300 kidnapped nigerian shcoolgirls 

• ringing the issue to the attention of many and leading to a unanimous security council resolution that called for action in Nigeria and made the perpetrator eligible for war crimes,

media - censorship

• ‘Syria's civil war marks rise and fall of country's journalism’ aljazeera 2013,

• The Syrian center for journalistic freedoms reveals that over 1400 violations against journalists have occurred during the course of the war, including arrests and harassment while over 140 journalists have been killed. This demonstrates the Syrian government's censorship of media, attempting to stop people knowing the atrocities that are occurring in Syria through the prevention of journalistic reporting, minimising social scrutiny and public pressure while stopping access to anti-governmental ideologies that promote rebellion.

media - weaponisation

• Myanmar's blockage of twitter and instagram during its violent overthrow of the government,

•  The weaponisation of the media as a force to control individuals

  • causing many to not understand what is going on, ‘undermining the public conversation and the rights of people to make their voice heard’, therefore highlighting the effectiveness of media due to the government's need to suppress it in order to avoid global accountability while showcasing its limitations and the way it can be used to control and create confusion, limiting its ability to promote and maintain world order through preventing access and the consequential people pressure and legal responses.

NATO - context

t

• NATO (the North Atlantic treaty Organization) is a collective security intergovernmental organization that consists of 32 countries, effectively providing security against international threats through cooperation. This was especially in response to the threat of the soviet union and its expansion into Europe, working to protect member nations against invasion

• This is demonstrated through article 5 of the NATO treaty, which states that an armed attack against one or more of them is considered an attack against them all, and they will therefore assist this country by taking action as they deem necessary, effectively protecting world order through deterring war or violence against these countries.

  • Furthermore, three NATO countries have nuclear weapons, discouraging countries like Russia from engaging in conflict with a NATO country at the risk of starting a nuclear war.

nato - potsitives - collective

• Sweden joining the IGO in ‘flag of Sweden is raised at NATO headquarters, cementing its place as an allegiance member’ AP 2024

• countries like Sweden, who have been neutral for decades giving up their neutrality by choosing to join it in order to feel more protected.

• Shows its effectiveness

  • Further emphasised → Finland's defence minister saying ‘now we stand at the beginning of a new era. Together with other allies in peace, in crisis and beyond’,

nato - positives - helpign out

• ‘NATO countries say they will ship huge amounts of weapons to Ukraine’ NPR 2023

• promoting world order through cooperating to send weapons to Ukraine, helping work towards ending the conflict

• effectiveness of NATO at promoting world order through cooperation, working to prevent and assist conflict is demonstrated through their assistance towards Ukraine in the Ukraine-Russia war

nato negatives

• Negatives: NATO'S heavy reliance on the US and the recent Trump administration focusing more on its national interests than cooperation threatens its effectiveness and the influence it holds,

• guardian article 2025, in response to the US appearing to side with Russia and shutting Ukraine out of potential NATO membership,

• where president Merz calls for more European independence from the US in NATO.

  • This highlights the American administrations lack of care for Europe and how it threatening both the ability and legitimacy of NATO to effectively promote world order, demonstrating the broader issues of IGOs reliance on state cooperation and the impacts the shifting global landscape and alligances can have on this.

geneva conventions - context

• set of internaiotnal laws that regulate how war is fought

• protect those who arent fighting

• minimise the effects of warfare through rpotecting woulded and sick soldiers, medical personel. POW and civillans

  • Most rattified treaties in the world 196 states —> universal aceptance —> cooperaiton

  • places pressure on countries that dont comply and hold each other acountable

geneva conveitons - accountable

• An example of this was the international pressure placed on serbia during the bosnia war → serbian forces were accused of breaches of the geneva conventions like attacks on civilians

• In response the UN imposed economic sanctions, NATO carried out airstrikes against Serbian military targets and war crime investigations were launched through the internaitnal criminal tribunal for the former yugslavia → held them accountable

Geneva conventions - loophole

Ukraine war: WHO says attacks on health facilities are rising daily’ bbc 2022,

• 70 sperate attacks on hospitals and health facilities —> numbers increasing on ‘daily basis’

• actively defies article 18 fo the convention —> ‘civillan hospital shall be under no circumstances the object of an attack, and shall be respected and protected at all times’

• however a legal loophole allows russia to claim legality towards these actions if the medical facility is positiioned close to a military target or if the medical facility is commiting a harmful act to the enemy, like sheilding healthy soldiers, —> make it possible to claim legitimacy

geneva convetions - reform

IRC - calls for reform through a stronger blacket ban on any attack on medical facilites, demonstating the need for reform —> inadequate at the present

geneva convetions - syria

physicicans for human rights —> a us advocacy group

• russian forces have been linked to 244 seperate atacks on syrian health facilities since 2011, with WHO concerned the attacks on medical facilites are becoming part of the wider strategy and tactics of modern warfare

AUKUS - context

• A trilateral security pact created in 2021 between US. UK and AUS in order to increase defence and stability in the indo pacific region and deter chinas expansion

• includes cooperation on advanced cyber mechanisms, infomaiton and the aquisiton of nucear powered submarines by AUS

AUKUS - positives

2021 prime minister statement - ‘this is a historic oppourtuitfor three nations … to protect shared values and promote security and prosperity in the indo pacific region’

• cooperaiton aims to increase regional security

• morover, in carline kennedys speech she states the ‘increasingly tense nature’ of the indo pacific and AUKUS will be a ‘significant detterant

AUKUS - negatives - cold

bbc 2021 - china denounces US UK AUS pact as irresponsible

• china has described them of having a ‘cold war mentaility’ ‘sevearly damaging regional epace’ and that aus have ‘made themselves an enemy of china’

  • deal has created further tension and negative relationships in the region

AUKUS - negatives - arms

chinas vow to speed up the expansion of its defence specnding bbc2023

• stated that the countries are ‘risking an arms race and nuclear poliferation’

  • directly goes against world order and peace

AUKUS - neg - trump

‘what deos that mean’ guardian 2025 - aukus reliance on rogue states and vunerability to foregn power shifts and shifting political alligances

austrlia - context

austrlia has historically had a strong alligance with israel

• first state to vote in favour of it beoming its own nation state

• prseided over the vote admitting israel to the UN

• sent military forces to siani as part of the israel egypt peace treaty

  • shared intellegance, defence and security technolgy

austrlia - stong relo

in 2007 the howard goevrment stated their ‘personal commitment’ to israel and the ‘percious bilateral prestaionship between the states’

austrlia - negatives - GA

australia abstained from a general assembly calling for a ceasfire in gaza in order to porvide essential aid for palestiians in 2023 —> helped block essential action from occuring

austrlia - ICC

‘austrlia tip toes around ICC decicion’ abc 2024

• has not conformed wether it will comply with arrest warrants for netnyahu and gallant, despite being a rome statute state and it being part of their obligations

  • failing to effectively respond to world order issues

austrlia - welcome

austrlia openly welcomed president herzog of israel to come to austrlia in the wake of the bondi beach terror attacks despite his alleged complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity - guardian 2026 article

• labour freinds of palestine say that herzog ‘actively and spiritually enabled a long list of the gravest violations of internaitonal law’

• condemn austrlia for welcoming president herzog instead of invesigating him for his complicity in these crimes —> working at the side of netnyahu

  • failing to effecitvely respond to weold order issues

austrlia - amnesty

amnesty internaitonals report on the arrival of president herzog

• former human rights commisioner arguing that herzog should be arrested on arrival for his alleged crimes and that ‘internaitonal dimplimacy does not apply due to the cragity of the crimes commited’

• thousands took to the streets to demand that herzog should be heald accountable

  • aus ignroed this - choosing nat interest over IL and holding herzog accountable for his grevious crimes that violate IL depite aus rattified obligations

australia - positives

abc 2026 - aus has charged BRS for 5 counts of war crimes - fufilling its internaitonal obligaitons under the ICC

• former decorated soldier awarded witht eh red cros

• has since been alleged to have commited war crimes

  • allegedly partaing in over 23 inceidents where 1 or more people died

nuclear weapons - 1st treaty

treaty on the non proliferation of nuclear weapons 1968

• as response to the threat of nuclear weapons

• what did it do: prevented states who didnt have nuclear weapons from gaining nuclear weapons and encouraged nuclear states to decrease their stockholds

• 187 signatures and 178 rattifications

• effective: have reduced the number of nuclear states as no non nuclear states who joined it have gained nuclear weapons ‘without the treaty we could possibly have up to 40 nations posessing nuclear weaons today’ cambridge —> LIMITNG THE SPREAD

• innefective: doesnt completely remove the threat of nuclear weapons - so the threat continues to exist

  • moreover, india, israel and pakistan refused to sign and since have developed nuclear weapons

  • US and russia have vastly expanded the numbers nuclear weapons sicne the treaty —> reaching a peak of 68000 in the 1980s

NPT - innnefective enforemnt

its innefective enforcement mechanisms in response to countries who arent signatorys of the treaty developing weapons

• troubled treaties: is the NPT tottering - sage journals

  • india and paikistan 1998 nuclear testing —> innefective internaitonal response as the treat has no mechanisms to prevent or punish non signatories

  • moreover, none of the nuclear states are being heald accounable for not fullifing their obligaitons under artice V1

NPT - verification

verificaiton - check if countires are complying with NPT

• IAEA —> main method of validity, inspects nuclear facilities to ensure countries are complying with their obligaitons

• however —> reliant on cooperation of countires to dislcose all nculear facilites

• irans secret nuclear porliferation in 1980s —> IAEA inspected declared facilites but iraq failed to disclose the eistance of secret facilites with nuclear weapons programs

NPT - artilce IV loophole

NPT arlicle IV allows the posession of technology that is used to make nuclear weapons for peaceful reasons like civillian nuclear energy

• very similar to nuclear weapons technology

• countries can claim it needs these reources fo peaceful reasons like power

• "The overlap between civilian and military nuclear technologies poses perhaps the most significant challenge facing the nuclear nonproliferation regime."

• article IV is also ambigous as it never properly defines what is a ‘peaceful purpose’ for nuclear technologes

NPT -r eofrm

Internaitonal campain for the treaty of the prohibition of nuclear weapons 2007

• emphasises the innefectivenes of the NPT and the need for a comprehensive ban ‘nuclear weapons are the most inhumane weapons ever created…. They must be eliminated immediately’.

• supported by 650 parter organisaitons across 107 countires

need for TPNW

nuclear weapons have become increasingly prevalent since their first use in 1945 —> can eliminate entire cities

• weapon of mass destructiont that doesnt distingush between civillians and combatants, has dire long term conseuwnces

• hiroshima bombing 1945

  • killed over 140000 poeple and decomated 5 square miles

TPNW - contect

Treaty for the porhibtion of nuclear weapoons 2017

• prohibtion naitons from developing, testing, manufacturing, posesing stokcipiling and using or threatening to use NW

• makes it illegal to assist or encourage anyone

• legally binding

  • ‘nothing short of a victory for humanity’ ICRC

TPNW - limitations

• oly signed by 95/195 states

• none of the 9 countries who acctually own nuclear weapons have joined it —> no direct impact on reducing global nuclear stockplies

  • mainly due to falire to consider state interests and the reality of the global situation at the moment —> lots of tension

TPNW - deterrance

springer nature 2024

• US continues to veiw nuclear weapons as an essential strategy for deterrance

• "Missile defence capabilities were formally integrated into US nuclear strategy 'to help provide deterrence and protection against attack, preserve US freedom of action, and strengthen the credibility of US alliance commitments.'" (US DoD, 2001)

TPNW - umrbella

‘austlrian goverment urged to heed public support for treaty banning nuclear weapons’ 2021

• aus goverment has not signed the treaty, arguing that it would ‘not eliminate a single nuclear weapon’ ebcuase none of the nuclear weapons states have signed it as it ‘ignores the relaities of the global secirity envrionement’

• the treaty would be inconsistent with US alligance obligations

  • US has pledged to defend non nuclear states like aus and hapan under its ‘nuclear umbrella’

TPNW - deterrant - gain

‘three quaters of south koreans want nuclear weapons. one variable could decide the rest’ voices of tomorrow 2026

• recent surveys show that 76% of south koreans want nuclear weapons in south korea as an effective deterrant and defence mechanism due to the growing alignment among north korea, russia and china —> v close to south korea

R2P - context

Global norm established in 2005 and details that a country has a responsibility to portect its porpulation from 4 mass atrocities —> genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of agression, and that if a country fails to protect their population the interantional community can intervene

r2p - libya context

The first proper application of R2P was in libya in 2011 in response to the gadafi goverments violent threats against civillians, leading to the beleif that he was going to commit mass atrocities -

• UNSC adopted resolution 1973 which authorised natio to ‘take all necessary measures to protect civillians’

• this lead to the death of gaddafi and the overthrowing of his goverment

r2p libya - nato unauthorised

rise and fall of the traonibility to portect - CFR education

• NATO misused its powers under R2P, contributing to a regime change that lead to instability and conflict in libya until 2020

• NATO mission was meant to be limited to a peacekieeping mission, stopping violence and protecting civillians

• hwoever, nato heavily rargeted gaddafis forces, leading to the death of gaddafi and turning it into a regime change

• this caused sevear long term consequences for libya, with a lack of stable goverment leading to a civil war that continued until 2020

• has no genuine enformement ageny so relies on state sto decide how the enforment occurs —> states act according to their state interests this can be a guise for other goals

r2p - neg affects on libya

GCR2P ‘libya and the responsibility to protect’

• resulting regime change lead to a humanitarian crisis that caused over 100,000 refugees, 287000 displaced and a death toll 10 times what it would have been if they had complied with the original peace keeping mission

  • ‘the western powers made a huge mistake by pivoting so rapidly to regime change, which wasnt justifiable under rp2 and wasnt justifiable under the resolution’ jared genser

r2p - impact on other countries

the contriversia first aplication has lead to other countries being less willing to violate another states sovreigty in the future, preventing lifesaving aciton from occuring

• china and russia have vetoed a resolution from r2p in syria and have vetoes 15 since

r2p and law reform - contiitons

state sovreingty preventing the internaitonal community from interventing in devestating humanitarian atrocities and allowing these leaders to avoid accountability and leaving millions of civillians unprotected

• rwandan genocide 1994

  • the hutu ethnic majority killed over 800,000 tutsi people

  • due to state sovreigty the internaitonal community couldnt intervene

  • hilighted a need for a change to the system

r2p and reform need

‘overcoming the rwanda faliure: the impact of r2p on the protection of civillians’

• states that the faliure of the internaitonal community due to state sovreigty in the case of the rwanda gencoide was a direct influence on the creation of r2p

  • 1994 genocide was a moment of ‘foufound shame and a catalyst for the rethinking of principles of state sovreigty and intervention’

  • the rest is just the second half of the og R2P para

red cross - reform - context

NGOs can significantrly contribut to pormoting world order through raising awareness and pressuring law reform

the red cross was founded in 1863 by henry durant after wintessing inhumane suffering on battlefeilds. it was established to provide humanitarian aid and assistance, rpotecting the lives and dignity of those affected by war

NGOs - reofrm - sucess

creation of the vienna conference in 2014

• conference educated goverments on the cataspopic humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons, pressured states to reconsider law and created a multilateral forum for negotiation and discussion

  • ended with a pledge to ‘fill the legal gap’ and prohibit nuclear weapons

NGOS - reform - innefective

however, they are often weakened by a lack of relaistic diplomatic enforcment and impolementation considerations

• cambridge 2016 —> ‘the red cross did not specify what kind of diplomatic and legal pocesses should be persued’

• ICRC focused heavily on humanitrain ideals and prohibition however it failed to realistically explain how implementation would work, enforcmcement and how to realistically get nuclear states to comply

• moreover, it failed to take into consideration state itnoerests

  • due to this faliure to explan how the prohibtion should work in practice it left states the responsibility for coming up with laws —> bad cos they usually act in their won interest and humanitaian concerns arent always a rpoority

  • this is demonstrated through the TPNW —> innefective

IHL - red cross - context

what is the red cross:

• a worldwide humanitrain network founded by henry durant in 1863 after witnessing exessive devestation on battlegrounds

• helps people affected by war, disasters and emergencies regardless of naitonality, rligion or beleif

• provides humanitrain aid like medical supplies, food, water shelter

• is the only organisaiton with the right of movement across both sides in war —> roles and resonibilitys are recognised by the geneva convetions

  • therefore countries that sign the convetions alknowleged ICRCs humanitarian role during conflict

  • must allow them to provide aid, visit prisoners of war and monitor treatment and provide humanitrain assistace to civillans and wounded

  • visited 678 detention facilites holding more that 737000 detainees to ensure humane treatment and compliance with humanitrian standards, supported 1500 health facilities —> 2024

ICRC positive

works with armed forces around the world to teach soldiers and military eladers about the rules of war like rpotecting vivillians, treating POW humanely, protecting medical personall and hospitals and using foce in accordance with IHL

• employs delegates to armed and security forces in the nation they are working in to train them in the laws of war

• educated over 200 fighters from Malian armed group and other groups involved in conflict on the protection of civillians, treatment of captured fighters, rules governing the conduct of hostilites and respect for humantiran pornciples

  • these principles were incorporated into official military regulaitons

ICRC negative

the ability of the ICRC is limited by the compliance of states in order to acces populations and porvide humanitarian aid

US refused ICRC access to terror prisoners and suspects held in US custody in ‘secret prisons’ abroad in ‘US rejects call for full terror suspect access’ 2005 abc

• ‘“We are concerned at the fate of an unknown number of people captured as part of the so-called global war on terror and held at undisclosed places of detention,” Antonella Notari, chief ICRC spokeswoman, said.