International Organizations and World Order Essay Example for Free

International Organizations and World Order Essay After First World War, there was call for formation of international organization to bring order in the world. The notion led to the formation of the League of Nations due to the conviction of the then president of the United States of America, President Woodrow Wilson who was certain that the move would prevent future conflict if only nations would come together to defend the principles of self-determination and independence. The progress of the League of Nations was thwarted when the United States refused to join it. It was also thwarted by the extremist political ideologies and power rivalry that existed at that time in history, which was 1930s. Due to the outbreak of Second World War that ended in 1945, there was more concern that led to the formation of another international organization in the name of United Nations. The Bretton woods conference, which is the reason for the existence International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank as well as the Dumbarton Oaks Conference came to existence in 1944. The foundation do the United Nation was laid by the allies of the organization (Owen, 1996). According to Owen (1996, p. 9) most of the international organizations were formed with an intention of reconstructing Europe, which was seriously devastated after the war against Nazi Germany. Most of the International organizations that were formed after World War II became more active in the 1960 where their activities were expanded to meet the new challenges because of European colonization, which included independent but politically immature and poor nations in Latin America, African and Asia. Most of the international organizations were started in the 19the century. Owen (1996, p. 10) states that â€Å"More recently, with the uncertainties and instabilities which have followed the ending of the Cold War, international organizations have stepped in to cope with the effects of the resulting conflicts and tensions, many of them within states rather than between states n the process, many UN bodies have been found wanting. The office f the United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator (UNDRO), for example was founded in 1971. † Some of the international organizations include regional Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), which was formed in 1989 with an objective of establishing common military, cultural and economic policies to ensure free movement of goods, services and people between member states. The Member nations of Arab Maghreb Union include Morocco, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Mauritania (Schafer, Verbist, Imhoos, 2005). Another International Organization is Asia Pacific Economic co-operation Forum (APEC) was formed in 1989 to promote linearization of economy in the Pacific region. Association of South East Asian nations (ASEAN) was formed in 1967 to replace ASA (Association of South East Asia). The member nations of ASEA include Australia, United States of America, Japan and New Zealand. The main objective of the organization is to promote common economic, political and trading policies. There is also another international organization in the name of Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which was formed in 1965 to ensure economic cooperation in Caribbean common market, to put in place common policies in education, health, culture, industrial relation and communication and to coordinate foreign policy among the member nations. The affiliations of the CARICOM according to Owen include â€Å"Caribbean Development Bank; Caribbean Examinations Council; Caribbean Meteorological Organization; Council of Legal Education; University of Guyana; University of the West Indies; West Indies Shipping Corporation†. The Common wealth is another important international organization that is in forefront trying to address contemporary global issues. Commonwealth was formed in 1884 and it grew out of the British Empire. The objectives of the Commonwealth are to enable nations from different parts of the world to exchange opinions in an informal, friendly and intimate atmosphere. Commonwealth has member nations, which according to Owen (1996, p. 11) include â€Å"Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Cyprus, and Dominica. Others are: Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Namibia, Nauru, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, St Kitts-Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, the United Kingdom, Vanuatu, Western Samoa, Zambia, Zimbabwe. † There are several other International organizations such as Commonwealth of Independent States, Council of Europe, European free trade association (EFTA), European union (EU), gulf co-operation council (GCC), Mercosur (Mercado Commun del Sur-southern common market), African union (AU), Organization of American States (OAS), Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), South Pacific Forum, Southern African Development Community (SADC) among others. According to Mendlovitz (1966, p5) â€Å"Law has too often been conceived in static terms as a system of order designed to uphold the status quo. In any legal system, whether national, regional, or global in scope, law also has a dynamic aspect which allows it to make a contribution to projects for social change. † Saul Mendlovitz further states that â€Å"international law to the postulated goal of a warless world with an excerpt from an article that considers how law might help us move from where we are to where we would like to be; it is this gap that creates what we have called the transition problem. In this new age, there has emerged a vas and ancient worldwide conspiracy called the New World Order, which aims to unite the entire world under one government. The New World Order concept was introduced into the dictionary of the international politics after the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe (Slaughter, 2004). The former president of the United States of America George Bush was the first who strongly invoke the idea in response to the Gulf crisis. Therefore, the concept traced to 1991, when Iraq invaded Kuwait and when the cold war ended. According to Ismael (1994), he states that â€Å"Thus, the end of the cold war and Iraqs invasion of Kuwait in August 1991 constitute the historical reference points for the concept. This suggests at least two dimensions in its meaning: the end of an international order determined by the struggle for hegemony between the United States and the Soviet Union; and the initiation of a U. S. foreign policy doctrine based on U. S. hegemony in the international order. † When president George Bush was waging a war of words with the then the president of Iraq Saddam Hussein in 1990 he demonized him and referred to his effort as an attempt to establish a new world order (Wells, 2008). Many were excited by the effort of Bush at first because they thought the president of the United States was promoting democracy in the region as he had done in the Eastern Europe. Unfortunately that was not to be realized as Ishmael (1994) says, Bush was determined in establishing hegemony. The region after the gulf war in Iraq and Kuwait has remained unstable politically. According to Lloyd (2002, p. 1) New world Order was a fragile creation that emerged after September 11 attack. Lloyd states, â€Å"Before 11 September, the new (left) world order was a tentative, even fragile, creation. It emerged from new Labor in 1997 as an ethical dimension in foreign policy, announced by the then foreign secretary, Robin Cook, as a natural extension of the globes interdependence. The world had become a moral forum through the media and the work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). † The world was at peace before the attack on the United States to the extent that most world leaders praised the state in which the world was. Some of the people who were at the forefront of the new idea of new world order are Robert cooper and Anthony Giddens, a senior diplomat and a director of the London school of Economics respectively. Giddens was for the idea that globalization could then take place because there was a state of peace that was a recipe to one global governance. The globalization, he argued would transfer power from the nations into the global space leading to the call for the need of regulation to guide the governance. Copper on the other hand argued that new world order will lead to a shift in value where there will be a victory of values of individual of those of state and those of market over the military ones and foreign policy will no longer to be about war (Lloyd, 2002, p. 1). International court creation came in to being after two attempts to organize an international court had failed (Mower, 1931, p. 616). Before there was, a court called The Hague Permanent Court of International Arbitration, which could not provide the much-needed justice in the international level as the current International Criminal Court. Other international courts deal with different legal issues. For instance, there are courts that deal with human rights at the international level, which include African Court of Justice (ACJ), African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), European Court of Human Rights and International-American Court of Human rights. Others include International Court of Justice (ICJ), International Criminal Court (ICC), and Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), Resource materials on International Courts and Special International Criminal Courts and Tribunals. According to Class Action Publisher (2008), there are seven special international criminal courts and tribunal, which include Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), International Criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Others are â€Å"Regulation 64† Panels in the Courts of Kosovo, special Courts for Sierra Leone, Special panels of the District Court of Dili (East Timor) and War Crimes Chambers (WCC) in Sarajevo- within the state court. All these international courts have well designed objective and operation guidelines. International criminal Court established in 1998 by Rome statute and it is the first permanent court to hear international criminal claim. The court has a role to hear cases that are regarded as most serious such as crime against humanity, war crimes and genocide (Janis, 1992). It does not deal with cases that occurred prior it its institution but only to those crimes that have been committed after July 1, 2002. ICC does not deal with cases that have been committed by legal entities but natural persons. It can act on cases when the cases have been referred to it by the United Nations’ Security Council or with consent of the affected state. The International Criminal Court takes up a case or jurisdiction only as the last resort when all the national avenues have been completely exhausted (Buhler Webster, 2005). The nations have been endowed with the responsibility of international crimes but when a state is unwilling to pursue justice, delays in pursuing justice or it shows impartiality of dealing with international crimes then the ICC takes up the matter. This may also result from unavailability of proper judicial system or if the state is unable to carry out the proceeding. Over one hundred nations worldwide subscribe to the Rome statute that established the ICC exclusive of the United States of America. United States revoked the signature of the former president Bill Clinton that was due to lack of checks and balance of the ICC. The ICC gives considerable rights to victims which include attending the proceeding of the court have having their concerns considered; being represented by counsel and interrogating witnesses; seeking monetary compensation after conviction and seeking preservation of defendant assets pending trial. The ICC has four major organs namely judicial divisions, the presidency, office of the prosecutor and the registry, which have different roles that help the court to achieve its objectives (Schafer, Verbist Imhoos, 2005). The international courts have been able to provide effective enforcement of international legal instruments in different countries. Many countries have suffered from the art of war, which have seen many people suffer thereby depriving them of their human rights. Individuals for their own personal and selfish reasons started some of the wars that have caused suffering to citizens of the affected nations. Being well connected to the political order of the day most perpetrators of the crimes that lead to the abuse of human right cannot be properly persecuted in their respective countries. Other reasons that have made it possible for the perpetrators of the crime of high magnitude is the fact that most countries where such crimes are committed lack proper judicial system that is independent, impartial and ineffective. This has led to transfer of many cases to the international courts or to the ICC (Barker, 2004. ) International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is an existing testimony to the effectiveness of the International Courts. In Rwanda where the conflict started between the Tutsi and the Hutu tribes in 1994, many people belonging to the Tutsi tribe were killed in the Genocide. The total number of the Tutsi that were killed is estimated to be over five hundred thousand people. In response to the crime, the United Nation Security Council created the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in November of 1994 to prosecute crimes genocide and violation of the Geneva Convention. The ICTR is a subsidiary organ under chapter VII of the United Nations Charter of the Security Council under article 29 (Barker, 2004). International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has completed over fifty trials so far and of the accused persons, 29 have been convicted of crime (Klip Sluiter, 200). About eleven people are on trial, others waiting trial, some are to be transferred to the national jurisdiction trial while others are still unconfined. The first person was tried three years after the formation of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 1997 and he was Jean-Paul Akayesu. Jean Kambanda also pleaded guilty after wards. The tribunal has also issued arrest warrant to some suspects that are thought to have played a role or orchestrated the genocide like Kabuga Felicien. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda issued an international arrest warrant for Felicien in 1999 where he was charged with complicity in genocide, genocide and conspiracy to commit genocide. The action of the international court in Rwandan genocide has achieved a lot in the nation and it has sent a clear message to the whole world. With arrest, trial and judgment of the suspects of the unfortunate occurrence, peace and order has been restored in Kigali because the Tutsi who were the main victim of all sorts of crime committed feel that justice has finally prevailed and cannot think of revenge and other notions that might lead to civil war again. The action has also sent a right signal to anybody in Ruanda and all over the world that any perpetrators of such crime will not escape the long arm of justice. Therefore, in reality International Court has succeeded in pursuing justice and is in the right path of ensuring that there is a peaceful planet where the innocent are vindicated while the guilty are condemned (Klip Sluiter, 200).