International Law Efficiency of the International Laws

International Law

Efficiency of the international laws

There has been a growing concern over the international law and the application of the same bearing the different settings and backgrounds against which these laws are applied. As they are international laws, so they are taken to be universal with the difference in the reality one the ground differing from one country to another, one continent to another, being of little or no significance at all. Here then comes the issue of the efficiency of these international laws and their universal relevance hence the sustained questioning of the relevance of some of these international laws in given setting.

It is presumptuous to insinuate that the international laws can apply in a universal applicability of the international law since to some extent it is bound to lose touch with the realities of member states hence rendered irrelevant and inefficient. The international law and its applicability must in a way cater for the wider interest of the signatory state in terms of its military, its economy and even its foreign relations in order for these laws to have significant support and effectiveness in such a nation. The laws must also be those that cater for the general values that are held as of great significance by the locals of the states. If there is a wide gap and conflict between the values that are held dearly by the significant majority of the people of a given state, then such laws risk running irrelevant hence inapplicable. The formulation and the application of these laws must also be acceptable in substance and conforming to the procedures and norms that are recognized by the states, lest it runs the risk of being inefficient at the end hence invalid. The efficiency and validity of the international laws also depend on the establishment of the institutions that are charged with operationalizing such laws at the international level and at the state level as well (Yusuako, O., 2003:115).

It cannot be wished away that there are several factors as well that emanate from the addressee nation, from their internal view and will as well as participation in the implementation of these international laws. Of significance therefore is the state towards which the laws are directed and which are member states and signatories. The institutions and instruments of power and governance system within the country determine a lot the effectiveness of the international laws. If the institutions have no respect for the rule of law, then it will be extremely difficult to apply the international law, since even the local state laws may not be of any significance to them. One such example is the arrest warrant issued against the president of Sudan, Omar Bashir. This has been faced with extreme challenges since the instruments of power, the he heads, have ensured total disregard for the international indictment and summonses to the ICC. The other factor that emanates from internal circles is the ability of the state in question to be self sustaining and sufficient regardless of the sanctions from outside. When a nation can self-sustain, then there is a likelihood of disregarding the international laws since the worst that can happen is the sanctions imposition. The other aspect that is crucial and can affect the application of the international laws is the availability or lack of the culture of transparency and accountability, and the freedom for demanding of these and criticizing the governance of a country for lack of transparency and accountability. If these two are lacking in a member state, there is bound to be difficulty in implementation of the same. The other factor from the addressee nation is the past experience that they have had with such international bodies and the accompanying laws. If the past experience was widely viewed as biased, then there will be a collective societal stigma within the state hence difficulty in implementation of these international laws. The last factor that hinders the implementation of the international laws is the lack of well established institutions, economic, social and cultural structures within these countries to implement the international laws (Yusuako, O., 2003:115-116). This is the dilemma that faces Kenya (East Africa) with their sitting president being an inductee at the ICC for crimes against humanity, there has been push for the cases to be referred back to the mother nation from the Hague-based court in ICC, this is an international provision, but there are no sufficient structures to implement such a referral of the cases back to Kenya.