Perhaps the highlight of my Master's program at the LSE, so far, has been the recent visit of my Politics of International Law class to the Hague organized by my professor, KA. International Law is without a doubt one of the most controversial topics in today's world, especially because of the recent arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for the first standing head of State, the President of Sudan, Hassan Al Bashir.
Our itinerary for the trip included visits to the International Criminal Court, the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia, the International Court of Justice, the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the U.S. Embassy in the Hague. At each of these places we had the opportunity to meet and talk to lawyers in the Office of the Prosecutor, defense attorneys and Judges. It was an amazing experience, that has definitely influenced my decision to do my Master's dissertation on a combination of conflict, law and economics, which I hope to write about in more detail later on.
At all the institutions above, the "peace vs. justice" debate framed our visits. I took this law class as a follow up to all my amazing conflict classes at Lehigh, with Professor CK. I wanted to question whether law could perhaps act as a peaceful solution to conflict. However, after hearing prosecutor, after prosecutor, make the distinction between the legal issue and the political issue and state categorically that the legal outcome may have very little impact on whether peace would ever be achieved on the ground, I realized that perhaps I had been a bit too optimistic in my expectations. I believed that justice was a necessary prerequisite for peace. Yet, the prosecutors I met with saw only a minimal connection between peace and justice, and were interested in the legal issues, rather than the implication of justice for millions of people on the ground. They saw the distinction between justice and politics as not only positive, but absolutely necessary.
My LSE classmates and I debated and asked questions about the rationale for the ICC warrant of Al Bashir. Was the ICC right in issuing the warrant even after many NGO's and humanitarian aid organizations had been expelled because of Al Bashir's outrage? How many innocent Sudanese people would have to die before he was brought to justice? My outrage (shared by my colleagues) at the ICC was understandable. Yet, perhaps, maybe in some way the judges were right in their decision. A clear message has been sent to Al Bashir that what he has done is wrong. Perhaps this will act as a deterrent in a continuing genocide. Maybe, my some miracle of God, Al Bashir will be brought to trial in the Hague even though the ICC has no enforcement mechanisms to do so on its own accord. In international relations, where non-intervention is the fashion, I wonder who we can rely on to do so- the US, the African Union or the EU? And what about Uganda, the LRA and Joseph Kony? Kony is still at large and refuses to come to the negotiation table because of the outstanding ICC warrant for his arrest, as he continues to brutalize the Acholi people of Northern Uganda. The peace vs. justice debate continues.
I can continue to critique international law from the realist perspective, but to be completely honest, my visit to the Hague and the opportunity to sit in on an ICTY trial was an amazing experience. As my best friend, AB, always says the only constant in life is change. So maybe Al Bashir won't be arrested and brought to the Hague now, but who knows maybe it will happen in the next few years. Perhaps the US won't ratify the ICC treaty now, but perhaps the growing culture and discourse surrounding international law and moral legitimacy might put pressure on it to do so. Maybe one day both retributive and restorative justice will be combined and maybe international law will be a force to reckon with.
My path to peace has led me to ask the question "what next?" There is a great deal of pressure to remain in academia. I still haven't made a decision either way, but at least I know that I am fascinated by the intricate relationship between conflict in international relations and international law. Perhaps tomorrow will bring a better day for both.
