By Arunansh B. Goswami
Special to the Mirror-Spectator
The phrase “international law” was first coined by the utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham; he defined it as “a collection of rules governing relations between states.” Accordingly to legal philosopher John Austin, international law is no law at all because it lacks coercive sanction; according to him, “the so-called law of nations consists of opinions or sentiments current among nations generally. It therefore is not law properly so called.” This statement of Austin appears more and more relevant when we observe the ongoing violation of human rights of the people of Artsakh in spite of existing treaties and International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgements in place to prevent this abhorrent state of affairs. In this region, realpolitik rather than law is determining the ongoing situation. Diplomatic homilies on upholding “international law” are a regular feature of international summits, but the Machiavellian volt-face follows in matters of actual geopolitics. But the use and importance of international law cannot be overstated; its persuasive value is immense. It’s important that lawyers, attorneys at law, and others alike know what international laws are being violated in Artsakh by Baku.
What Can India Do?
Addressing the recent 19th East Asia Summit, Indian Premier Modi said, “Our approach should be one of developmentalism and not expansionism.”
But what we saw during the invasion of the Armenian enclave of Artsakh by the energy rich and hence diplomatically strong Azerbaijan [oil reserves of 7 billion barrels (1 Mt) and access to the Caspian Sea, unlike landlocked Armenia] and later forced exodus from this region of ethnic Armenians to change regional demography, pursuing a Hobbesian-Machiavellian foreign policy inspired by Turkish-Turanism, was a blatant violation of established tenets of international law and the declared foreign policy goal of the Modi administration.