Clearly stemming solely from the will of Russia’s autocratic President Vladimir Putin, the war on Ukraine is an attack on the rules-based international system and international law.
Posted yesterday at 1:00 p.m.
It violates the founding norm of the United Nations (UN), namely the prohibition of the use of force against the territorial integrity and political independence of a sovereign state. It is also a flagrant violation of humanitarian law and the rules governing armed conflict, particularly with regard to the bombardment of civilians.
Moreover, it poses the first direct threat of nuclear war since the Cuba crisis.
Faced with our inability, to date, to enforce the basic rules of the international system in this conflict, some see the obsolescence of this system and tend to give up. On the contrary, we believe that this catastrophe, with its tragic human consequences for the Ukrainian people and for the entire planet, highlights the need for an international system rooted in rules and institutions as clearly as possible.
Despite the understandable ambient pessimism, let’s roll up our sleeves and take action.
The Ukrainian conflict, which President Volodymyr Zelensky does not hesitate to describe as the Third World War, eloquently bears witness to the strong tensions between autocracies and democracies. The world order is changing, we must take note of it and adapt. However, even in this new and evolving order, we need norms and rules to govern relations between states to give us a better chance of preserving peace, protecting civilians, enhancing respect for human rights and ensuring a better foundation for economic development, poverty reduction and environmental protection.
Russia is breaking the rules
We can retort “what’s the point” since the rules are not respected. However, in the majority of situations, the rules are respected. If Russia is the object of general opprobrium and a battery of sanctions, it is precisely because it broke the rules.
It is in the interests of the vast majority of countries, including the major powers, to be able to benefit from a rules-based international system. Let us take advantage of the fact that 141 countries out of 193 have condemned Russian aggression at the UN General Assembly, and have reaffirmed loud and clear the fundamental principles of international governance.
It goes without saying that a rules-based system is in the interest of a middle power like Canada.
Canada has been a major contributor to establishing the rules and institutions of the international system. From the development of the law of the sea to the Ottawa Convention on the prohibition of anti-personnel mines to the creation of the International Criminal Court, without forgetting the creation of blue helmets, the responsibility to protect and the problem of child soldiers, Canada has a very enviable track record.
There is an opportunity here for Canada to step up its game and assume greater leadership to reinvigorate a rules-based international system, improve it in light of new challenges, and strengthen related institutions. This also presupposes a system in which respect for the rule of law and standards takes precedence, and where the international community has the means to constrain and sanction States and individuals for non-compliance with them.
Contribute to better global governance
It would be premature to prescribe a detailed roadmap here. It is first necessary to carry out an in-depth reflection with other States and civil society in order to identify priority projects and stimulate mobilization. Likewise, we must involve our political leaders and our diplomats, particularly in New York and Geneva. And finally, it is a question of demonstrating audacity, innovation and sustained action over several years.
Utopian? No. Of course, competing interests and great power play will be a challenge, especially with regard to any reform of the UN Security Council. We will also have to deal with the fact that the Western world is no longer alone in making the rules. The system of rules and the institutions that we will build will always be imperfect. However, if we can make relevant progress on several fronts, and thus contribute to better global governance, this will already be a useful achievement.
What we know, from experience, is that with inspired political leadership and the commitment of the diplomatic apparatus, Canada is capable of putting forward ideas, of working with numerous States and partners , mobilize, and foster sufficient consensus to move things forward and give the world a better chance. By definition, it will be a collective work. But moving the community forward requires leaders to rise up.
Canada has asserted itself in the crisis in Ukraine, among other things by taking the situation to the International Criminal Court. It could also contribute to the establishment of a special international tribunal for war crimes committed by Russia and propose innovative actions with regard to the use of Russian assets frozen by the sanctions as reparation for Ukraine.
Beyond the crisis before our eyes, Canada must develop a comprehensive, strategic, coherent and ambitious foreign policy. Beyond the defense of democracy, the active promotion of a rules-based international system could provide a structuring thread to Canadian foreign policy and establish leadership capable of impact in a world that badly needs it.
*Co-signatories, former diplomats and Fellows of the Montreal Institute of International Studies: Claude-Yves Charron, Louis de Lorimier, François LaRochelle, Anne Leahy, Christiane Pelchat, Gilles Rivard, Guy Saint-Jacques