By Boram Jang, East Asia Researcher at Amnesty International
Conflict is spreading across multiple continents. US and Israeli attacks on Iran have sparked retaliatory strikes. Crimes under international law continue to be committed in Gaza, Myanmar, Sudan and Ukraine. Law seems powerless to constrain armed conflict and civilians pay the ultimate price. Rules are invoked when convenient and ignored when costly. The temptation is to conclude that international law has failed.
International law cannot guarantee compliance, but it does something else. It establishes standards so that violations carry political, diplomatic and sometimes legal costs. Even those who break international law tend to frame their actions in legal terms, seeking justifications that might mitigate international scrutiny. Those constraints matter. Therefore, the question facing states now is whether they will strengthen them or allow them to erode.
Read the full article in The Diplomat