It is obvious that the events of the last few days have heightened the attention paid to our international institutions and their power in order to counter a flagrant violation of the sacrosanct sovereignty of States. The so-called multilateral institutions, such as the United Nations (UN), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU), are being undermined and revealing their scope and , at the same time, their relevance.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
This situation reminded me of a question I was asked recently. In discussion with a mathematics professor, a few months ago, he said to me: “Does international law still exist? »
I was dumbfounded. A few weeks away from completing my studies in international relations and international law, I found this question paradoxically complex and rhetorical. How to answer this question as simple as audacious?
After all, international law has always existed in spite of us. Whether we are talking about ancient Rome or the Chinese Empire, passing through the crusades and the conquest of the world, international relations have always existed, forming (in an articulated way or not) a dynamic, even a structure, that can be considered to be international law.
In recent centuries, the Treaty of Westphalia came to delimit our Earth in a quasi-surgical way, while the UN was created with the aim of serving as an international forum, but also as a peacekeeping entity. These events, among many others, led to the articulation of international law as we know it today.
But then, why this question? Perhaps because we have the feeling, justified or not, of feeling betrayed by this international law.
Among young people my age, our political awakening took place at the end of high school, when a certain megalomaniac billionaire took over the presidency of a world superpower. At the same time, the UN and other organizations persist in proving their slowness, even their powerlessness in the face of some of the most serious phenomena on our planet, such as genocides and the climate emergency. Not to mention the crumbling of the European Union and the odd machine that is the International Olympic Committee. Moreover, having lived through neither the Cold War nor a world war, my generation experiences its relationship with international institutions differently and does not necessarily feel its relevance in the same way as previous generations.
If I am writing to you today, it is because I wish to explain my observation regarding the profound evolution of the vision accorded to international law. This letter is intended as a preliminary autopsy of an area which, as it stands, will be less and less able to recover from the heavy scars inflicted in the past decade.
I have the deep wish that a certain multilateral international law can really exist and persist. And in my opinion, it is always possible.
If the students (but also the professors) seem more and more cynical, I wish however to assure you that they all keep a vitality and a passion which will allow the world to evolve in the right direction.
Finally, the question whether international law still exists is much more revealing than its answer. If you ask me my opinion, I imagine that yes, international law still exists. But this quest for world peace should not just be a figment of my imagination. Nevertheless, I warmly invite you all to continue to actively believe in the virtues of dialogue, pacifism and optimism. Because that’s what we have left.