Iran and the International Court of Justice

                Iran and the International Court of Justice

                                        By Jay Chauhan*

On 8th January 2020, Iranian military shot down a Ukranian plane carrying people of many nationalities including Canadian. The trigger was pulled during high tension arising from conflict between Iran and US when US had ordered assassination of a top Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani in Iraq.

Fortunately a third world war did not start. Iran is no longer the Persian Empire it once was commanding vast territories about 2500 years ago. Today Iran is governed by a religious oligarchy which came into power in 1979 when pro western Shah of Iran was deposed by a revolution. United States came into being on 4th July 1776 when 13 colonies founded by Europeans on North American soil declared freedom from Britain as a country, and built an economy and military and nuclear power which is unsurpassed vy any other military force in the world today. 21st century is a different world than the 19th century when Britain was the dominant colonial power.   

After the end of the second European War in 1945 Germany was defeated and Britain emerged as a victor. Large numbers of Europeans settled America and created an economy that supports military power of United States. US assumed the unofficial role of the police force of the world under the shadow of the United Nations Charter created to deal with conflicts of the nations. The UN charter was created as the constitution of the world government that requires nations to settle disputes peacefully, and created a Security Council with 5 permanent members, and acts like a cabinet of the United Nations Assembly comprised of 193 equal sovereign nations. International Court of Justice, comprised of 15 Judges was created and sits in Hague in Europe to adjudicate on disputes between nations. It is an underused institution of world government.

League of Nations was created in 1920 after the mayhem of the first European War which cost 40 million lives. The toll taken of lives in the second European war ending in 1945 was 80 million, and the Charter of United nations created as a blue print and constitution for world government, but no international military force was created to enforce the decisions of the world assembly, Security Council and the International Court of Justice.

The problems we need to address at international level include climate change which national governments, acting only in the interests of its electorate, cannot solve. Where there is a defaulting regime, that tortures its own population, it is still considered sovereign and there is no mechanism to rectify the situation by decision of the world assembly, as it happened with Saddam Hussein in Iraq. It appears to me that even democratic regimes are delegating the power of the state to leaders who seem to have disproportionate power to make decisions personally as we saw in the impeachment proceedings in the US.  

International Court of Justice is the correct forum for the resolution of the 176 innocent victims of the Ukranian Plane which was shot down by Iran which was in conflict with US. About 56 of the dead were Canadians of Iranian origin. Many of them were distinguished academic members of the University of Alberta and University of Toronto. It was touching to see the ceremonies at University of Alberta which was attended and addressed by the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Canada as an influential member of world community needs to encourage the need to use international legal institutions to solve conflict problems of the modern world.

The prime minister of Canada has demanded access to the black box, compensation for the Canadian victims and provided compensation of $ 20,000 to families of each of the victims of the downed plane. These demands nowhere near compensate the families for the lost breadwinners of the families. They were innocent victims of the war between nations. The prime minister never mentioned bringing the matter to the International Court of Justice. Our MPs and public should demand a trial and Judgment of the International Court which sits in Hague.

The institutions of the world government should be enhanced. India’s role in world government should be improved. It is left out of Security Council as a permanent because at the time of end of the second European War in 1945 it was a colony of Britain. About 75 years after rising back from the ashes of the colonial period, India is an undisputed nuclear power, and a military force with active personnel of 1.4 million and has military units with legendary display of discipline including Sikh and Gurkha regimens which supported the British Empire. India has a long history of peace with its Hindu tradition which can play an important role in the security council in settling disputes.

We need a world legal order which is not governed by ad hoc regime of economic sanctions to solve world problems. Sanctions adversely affect the weaker members of the society and not the ruling elite. We need to make the decisions of the International Court of Justice enforceable and not leave them as unenforceable opinions. We need a new world order which reflects the realities of computer age and deteriorating climate change and pollution which do not have national boundaries. We do not have a second planet yet to settle to sustain human civilization and each of us have a duty to participate in the democracy and legal order of the world.  

 *Jay Chauhan is a lawyer in three countries and a retired Deputy Judge and writer and lecturer on legal issues.