Inaugurating
the World Congress on International Law in New Delhi on Saturday, Vice
President Mr. Hamid Ansari has sounded the bell for reforms in the United
Nations, saying that that there was an urgent need of reforms in the UN as the
world has changed and new power realities have emerged. He said several new regional and
trans-regional groupings have come into being, but the UN remains largely
unaltered.
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| Vice President Hamid Ansari |
He
also said that International law is at the crossroads and needs a new direction
to deal with emerging issues like military interventions and radicalisation of
non-state actors. "Military
interventions in established nation states have led to instability and to the
growth of sectarian and ethnic discord.
"Non-state actors, of different ideological persuasions, have violated borders and sovereignty at will. Some of these transgressions have received support from other powers and nation states," Mr. Ansari said in his inaugural address.
"Non-state actors, of different ideological persuasions, have violated borders and sovereignty at will. Some of these transgressions have received support from other powers and nation states," Mr. Ansari said in his inaugural address.
He
said parts of international law remain highly contested, especially those on
warfare, concept of state sovereignty, and "to
a full range of self serving interests of the powerful who wish to use
international law to further their political, economic and security
interests".
Ansari
said although international laws and the institutions created to further its
influence and application have grown significantly over the last six decades,
but it needed new direction to deal with emerging issues which are no more
confined to interstate relations.
"Its (international law)
ambit has grown from interstate relations, to individual rights and now covers
civil society and corporations apart from State conduct. It extends to the
Global Commons and attempts to address new challenges being posed by new
technologies, non-state actors, unhindered information and financial flows.
"While it is trying to cope
with transnational concerns relating to pandemics, narcotics, illegal
trafficking in human beings and arms, it cannot escape addressing some
fundamental issues," he said, adding several parts
of the world are engulfed by crises of "identity, political control and stability".
The "nation-state system is under strain, prompted by geo-political, short term strategic compulsions and radicalised non-state actors. Colonial geographies have begun to dismantle", added Mr. Ansari.
The "nation-state system is under strain, prompted by geo-political, short term strategic compulsions and radicalised non-state actors. Colonial geographies have begun to dismantle", added Mr. Ansari.
