Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T08:16:00.631Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Systems analysis of international law: a methodological inquiry*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2009

A. Ch. Kiss  and
D. Shelton
Get access

Extract

A scholar studying international law, as it is presented in the texts of international treaties and restatements of customary norms, could describe an ideal world. The United Nations Charter and other international instruments suggest a harmonious existence in which there is no use or threat of the use of force between States, where disarmament is complete, where international aid to developing countries enables them to satisfy the basic needs of their inhabitants, where international co-operation leads to social and cultural progress and where human rights are respected. Disputes over the application of rules of international law are settled by international tribunals or other peaceful means, and violations of law are sanctioned by the implementation of rules of State responsibility.

Type
Articles
Information
Netherlands Yearbook of International Law , Volume 17 , December 1986 , pp. 45 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © T.M.C. Asser Press 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Capra, F., The Turning Point: Science, Society and The Rising Culture (1983) pp. 77–78Google Scholar. See also, Capra, F., The Tao of Physics (1978)Google Scholar; Laszlo, E., The Systems View of the World (1972)Google Scholar; Durand, D., La systémique (1979)Google Scholar; de Rosnay, J., Le macroscope, Vers une vision globale (1975).Google Scholar

2. De Rosnay, op.cit., at p. 72.

3. Ibid. at p. 79 and Durand, op.cit. n.1, at p. 71.

4. Capra, The Turning Point, op.cit. n. 1, at pp. 80–81.

5. Gilliam, H., ‘To Be and Not to Be’, This World (25 August 1985) at p. 18.Google Scholar

6. Ibid.

7. Capra, The Turning Point, op.cit. n.1, at p. 87.

8. Ibid. at p. 88.

9. Laszlo, op.cit. n. 1, at pp. 24–31.

10. Capra, The Turning Point, op.cit. n. 1, at p. 43; de Rosnay, op.cit. n. 1 at p. 60.

11. Laszlo, op.cit. n. 1, at p. 51.

12. Capra, The Turning Point, op.cit. n. 1, at p. 43.

13. The case of the S.S. Lotus (France v. Turkey) 1927 PCIJ ser. A, No. 10, 2 Hudson World Ct. Rep. p. 20.

14. Brierly, J.L., The Law of Nations, 6th edn. (1963) at p. 54.Google Scholar

15. See, e.g., Symposium on the Settlement with Iran, 13 Law Am. (1981) p. 1; Norton, J.J. and Collins, M.H., ‘Reflections on the Iranian Hostage Settlement’, 67 ABAJ (1981) p. 428Google Scholar; Belman, M.J. et al. , ‘Remarks, The US/Iranian hostage settlement’, 75 Proc. ASIL. (1981) p. 236.Google Scholar

16. McCluan, M., The Medium is the Message (1967).Google Scholar

17. Goldberg, M., ‘Live Aid Take May Hit $60 Million’, Rolling Stone (29 August 1985) at p. 17.Google Scholar

18. Humphrey, J., ‘The International Law of Human Rights in the Middle Twentieth Century’, in The Present State of International Law and Other Essays (1973) at p. 75.Google Scholar

19. See Valticos, N., ‘Fifty Years of Standard-Setting Activities by the International Labour Organisation’, 100 International Labour Review (1969) p. 3.Google Scholar

20. South-West Africa case (Second Phase) (Diss. op. Tanaka). ICJ Rep. 1966 p. 296.

21. Reservations to the Genocide Convention, ICJ Rep. 1951 at p. 23.

22. Eide, A. et al. , Food as a Human Right (1984).Google Scholar

23. See, e.g., Oxfam's, , Why the Poor Suffer Most: Drought and the Sahel (1984) p. 4Google Scholar; SIM Right to Food Project, The Right to Food; from Soft to Hard Law (Report of the international conference organized by the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights [SIM] Utrecht, June 1984) pp. 52–62 and 74–103; Christensen, C., The Right to Food: How to Guarantee (1978).Google Scholar

24. Blanc, and Kilem, , ‘Noted on the World Food Situation’, in Food (World Council of Churches) p. 27.Google Scholar

25. Committee on World Food Security, World Food Security: Selected Issues and Approaches (Ninth Session, Rome, January 1984).

26. See, e.g., Khalifa, A., Adverse Consequences for the Enjoyment of Human Rights of Political, Military, Economic and Other Forms of Assistance Given to the Racist and Colonialist Regime of South Africa, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1984/8/Rev.1.Google Scholar

27. Richard, P., ‘Art Thieves’, This World (1 July 1984) p. 7.Google Scholar

28. Lierhsen, C., ‘The Booming Trade in Smuggled Art’, Newsweek (30 May 1983) p. 84.Google Scholar

29. Ibid. p. 85.

30. Bator, P., The International Trade in Art (1983) p. 58.Google Scholar

31. Lierhsen, loc.cit. n. 28, p. 85.

32. Coggins, C., ‘Illicit Traffic of Pre-Colombian Antiquities’, 29 Art J. (1969) p. 94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

33. Ibid.

34. Treaty of Co-operation with the United Mexican States Providing for the Recovery and Return of Stolen Archaeological, Historical and Cultural Property, 17 July 1970, United States-Mexico, 22 UST p. 494, TIAS No. 7088, 1971. The Belgian-Zaire agreement is discussed in Van Geluwe, H., ‘Belgium's Contribution to the Zairian Cultural Heritage’, in Return and Restitution of Cultural Property, 31 Museum (1979) pp. 32, 35.Google Scholar

35. UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing Illicit Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, adopted 14 November 1970, 825 UNTS (1972) p. 231, 10 ILM (1971) p. 289.

36. Goy, R., ‘The International Protection of the Cultural and Natural Heritage,’ 11 Rev. belge (1975) p. 22.Google Scholar

37. Convention on the Protection of the Archaelogical, Historical and Artistic Heritage (Convention of San Salvador), adopted 16 July 1976, OAS TS (1976), reprinted in 15 ILM (1976) p. 1350; European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage, adopted 6 May 1969, in force 20 November 1970.

38. Williams, H., The International and National Protection of Movable Cultural Property (1978) pp. 6–9.Google Scholar

39. Most notably the Benin massacre of 1897. See Eyo, E., ‘Nigeria’, in Return and Restitution of Cultural PropertyGoogle Scholar, loc.cit. n. 34, p. 18.

40. Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the event of Armed Conflict, 28 May 1954; entry into force 7 August 1956, 249 UNTS p. 215.

41. According to Art. 300 of the Convention, signed on 10 December 1982, at Montego Bay: ‘States parties shall fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed under this Convention and shall exercise the rights, jurisdiction and freedoms recognized in this Convention in a manner which would not constitute an abuse of right.’

42. The principle prohibiting abuse of rights has been invoked by the District Court of Rotterdam in its final judgment in the proceedings against the Mines Domaniales d'Alsace (16 December 1983). See Lammers, J.G., Pollution of International Watercourses (1984) p. 201–205.Google Scholar

43. ICJ Rep. 1949 p. 22.

44. For further developments on these points, see Kiss, A., ‘The International Protection of the Environment’, in The Structure and Process of International Law, Macdonald, R. St. J. and Johnston, D.M., eds., (1983) p. 1073.Google Scholar

45. Stockholm, 19 February 1974. See also United Nations Environment Programme, Selected Multilateral Treaties in the Field of the Environment, Kiss, A., ed. (1983) p. 403.Google Scholar

46. See, e.g., the Kuwait Regional Convention for Co-operation in the Protection of the Marine Environment from Pollution, 24 April 1978, Art. 11, op.cit. n. 45, p. 486.

47. OECD, Recommendation of 14 November 1974, Principles Concerning Transfrontier Pollution, C(74) 224.

48. Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution from Land-Based Sources, Paris, 4 June 1974, UNEP, supra n. 45, at p. 430. Also, Protocol for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution from Land-Based Sources, Athens, 17 May 1980, Internationales Umweltrecht, Multilateral Verträge, Burhenne, W.E., ed., no. 980:37.Google Scholar

49. UNEP, loc.cit. n. 45, at p. 519.

50. See, e.g., Goldie, L.F.E., ‘A General View of International Environmental law: A Survey of Capabilities, Trends and Limits’, Hague Academy of International Law (1973) ColloquiumGoogle Scholar, The Protection of the Environment and International Law (1975) p. 36.Google Scholar

51. One may here recall Art. 9 of the Treaty on Outer Space, 27 January 1967, and Part XII of the LOS Convention.

52. Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, Bonn, 23 June 1979. UNEP, loc.cit. n. 45, p. 500.

53. Council Directive of 4 May 1976, OJ No. L 129, 18 May 1976, p. 23.

54. Kiss, A., ‘L'état du droit de l'environnement en 1981; problèmes et solutions’, 108 Clunet (1981) p. 511.Google Scholar

55. UNEP, loc.cit. n. 45, p. 235.

56. UNEP loc.cit. n. 45, pp. 266 and 283.

57. De Rosnay op.cit. n.1, p. 20.

58. Programme of Action of the European Communities on the Environment, 22 November 1973, (EC) OJ No. 112, 20 December 1973, p. 1.

59. E.g., Iran and China.

60. See as an example, Art. XV of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, Washington, 3 March 1973, UNEP loc.cit. n. 45, p. 289.

61. Inter-American Court of Human Rights, ‘The Effect of Reservations on the Entry into Force of the American Convention (Art. 74 and 75)’, Advisory Opinion OC-2/82 of 24 September 1982, OEA/Ser. L/V/III/O Doc 13 pp., 42 and 29.