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TNI Forum 5th of May
Transnational Institute - 28.04.2003 16:09
TNI-Forum: The Legality of the War against Iraq: Implications for the UN System; May 5 2003 - 20-22:30; De Balie - Amsterdam; speakers Jan Pronk and Peter Weiss; chair Fiona Dove ; entrance 5 euro; more info  tni@tni.org; reservations www.balie.nl; org. by Balie and TNI
Rationale:
In the second half of the 20th century, a growing body of international law determined the 'rules' to which any country had to adhere before it could legally wage war against another state. Those rules, whatever one may feel about the merits of the war against Iraq, were contravened by the US and the UK. The invasion of Iraq was not a matter of self-defence, there was no smoking gun. It was based on the new "pre-emptive strike" doctrine of the US and was conducted unilaterally, without the UN Security Council sanction necessary for such an invasion to be legal in terms of international law.
The actions of the US and its so-called Coalition of the Willing pose a fundamental challenge to the post-World War II system of governance of international security. The implications are doubtless profound. Has the system been made redundant? If so, what will take its place? Are we entering a new age of unilateralism where the law of the jungle prevails or is this a moment which might galvanise people and states to conceive of a more effective system of international law, a more effective United Nations?
We have invited two eminent authorities on these questions to discuss with you the historical moment we now live:
Jan Pronk needs little introduction to Dutch audiences as a former Minister of Development Co-operation. He currently serves as a professor at the Institute for Social Studies in The Hague and has been a long-standing member of TNI's Board of Advisors. He will speak to the future of the UN in world politics and in upholding international law.
Peter Weiss is an international legal expert from the US and Vice-President of the International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms (IALANA). He is also the legal representative of the Horman family, who's relative Charles was immortalised in the film "Missing", in the case against Pinochet; was the lead counsel in the Filartiga vs. Pena-Irala case, which in 1980 established the principle of transnational civil jurisdiction for universally recognised human rights violations; and was one of the principal architects of the nuclear weapons advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice in 1996. Peter Weiss will speak to whether or not the war is 'legally justifiable' and the consequences of the war, and indeed the Bush Administration's new doctrine, for international law.
 E-Mail: tni@tni.org  Website: http://www.tni.org
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