Principles of international law

The principles of international law are the fundamental principles and norms of law contained in international and interstate treaties, charters of international organizations, in the decisions of international courts , as well as in international customs, in respect of which there is evidence of the existence of general practice and the obligatory application of them by the international community ^] . The most important and generally recognized norms of behavior of subjects of international relations regarding the most important issues of international life are also a criterion for the legitimacy of other norms developed by statesin the field of international relations, as well as the legitimacy of the actual behavior of states.

The principles of international law, as peremptory provisions, cannot be repealed by any other provisions of a special nature or reformed taking into account special circumstances.

The main sources of principles of international law are the UN Charter , the 1970 Declaration on Principles of International Law and the Helsinki Final Act of the 1975 Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe .

Content of the principles of international law

There are ten universal principles in the doctrine of international law:

• The principle of non-use of force and threat of force;

• The principle of resolving international disputes by peaceful means;

• The principle of non-intervention in matters within the domestic jurisdiction of states;

• The principle of duty of States to cooperate with each other;

• The principle of equality and self-determination of peoples;

• The principle of sovereign equality of states;

• The principle of conscientious fulfillment of obligations under international law;

• The principle of inviolability of state borders;

• The principle of territorial integrity of states;

• The principle of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Principle of non-use of force and threat of force

This principle was first enshrined in the UN Charter . According to paragraph 4 of Art. 2 of the Charter, "All Members of the United Nations shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations." Subsequently, it was specified in documents adopted in the form of UN resolutions, including the 1970 Declaration on Principles of International Law, the 1974 Definition of Aggression , and the 1975 CSCE Final Act., Declaration on Strengthening the Efficiency of the Principle of Renunciation of the Threat or Use of Force in International Relations, 1987. The duty of non-use of force applies to all states, not just UN member states .

The use of armed force in self-defence is lawful only if there is an armed attack on the state. Article 51 of the UN Charter expressly excludes the use of armed force by one state against another in the event that the latter takes economic or political measures.

The UN Security Council, in the event that the unarmed measures recommended for the resolution of conflicts are considered insufficient, “is authorized to take such actions by air, sea or land forces as will be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security. Such actions may include demonstrations, blockades and other operations by the air, sea or land forces of the Members."

The normative content of the principle of non-use of force includes:

• prohibition of the occupation of the territory of another state in violation of international law;

• the prohibition of acts of reprisal involving the use of force;

• the granting by a state of its territory to another state, which uses it to commit aggression against a third state;

• organizing, inciting, assisting or participating in acts of civil war or terrorist acts in another state;

• organizing or encouraging the organization of armed bands, irregular forces, in particular mercenaries, to invade the territory of another state.

The principle of settling international disputes by peaceful means

According to paragraph 3 of Art. 2 of the UN Charter, "All Members of the United Nations shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner as not to endanger international peace and security and justice." This principle is specified in the Declaration on Principles of International Law of 1970 and the Final Act of the CSCE. These documents enshrine the obligation of states to “make efforts to arrive at a just solution based on international law in a short time”, the obligation to “continue to seek mutually agreed ways of peaceful settlement of the dispute” in cases where the dispute cannot be resolved, “to refrain from any action which might aggravate the situation to such an extent as to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security and thereby make a peaceful settlement of the dispute more difficult.”

The Charter of the United Nations leaves the parties to a dispute free to choose such peaceful means as they deem most appropriate for the resolution of the dispute. Many states in the system of peaceful means prefer diplomatic negotiations , through which most disputes are resolved.

The principle of non-intervention in matters within the domestic jurisdiction of states

The modern understanding of this principle in a general form is fixed in paragraph 7 of Art. 2 of the UN Charter and specified in authoritative international documents: the Declaration on the Principles of International Law of 1970, the Final Act of the CSCE , the UN Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Interference in the Internal Affairs of States, on the Protection of Their Independence and Sovereignty of December 21, 1965, etc.

International law does not regulate the issues of the internal political situation of states, therefore, any measures of states or international organizations with the help of which they try to prevent the subject of international law from solving cases that are within its internal competence are considered interference.

In particular, every state has the inalienable right to choose its own political, economic, social and cultural system without any form of interference from any other state, and no state shall organize, assist, incite, finance, encourage or allow armed, subversive or terrorist activities aimed at changing the order of another state through violence, as well as intervene in the internal struggle in another state.

An exception to this general rule is the application of coercive measures under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, that is, actions that can be taken in cases of a threat to the peace, a breach of the peace, or an act of aggression. It is now also recognized by many international law scholars that Chapter VII of the UN Charter can also be used to authorize humanitarian intervention by the UN Security Council in the event of a genocide or humanitarian catastrophe .

In the 56 OSCE member states, according to the document of the Moscow Meeting, issues of human rights , fundamental freedoms , democracy and the rule of law are of an international nature and are not exclusively the internal affairs of the respective state .

The principle of the obligation of states to cooperate with each other

In accordance with the UN Charter, states are obliged "to carry out international cooperation in resolving international problems of an economic, social, cultural and humanitarian character", and are also obliged "to maintain international peace and security and to this end take effective collective measures." This principle has also been fixed in the statutes of many international organizations, in international treaties, numerous resolutions and declarations.

Specific forms of cooperation and its scope depend on the states themselves, their needs and material resources, domestic legislation and international obligations assumed.

The principle of equality and self-determination of peoples

Unconditional respect for the right of every nation to freely choose the ways and forms of its development is one of the fundamental foundations of international relations. In accordance with paragraph 2 of Art. 1 of the UN Charter, one of the most important goals of the UN is “to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples…”. This principle has been repeatedly confirmed in UN documents - in the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples of 1960, the Covenants on Human Rights of 1966, the Declaration on the Principles of International Law of 1970. The Declaration of Principles of the OSCE Final Act specifically emphasizes the right of peoples to decide their own destiny.

Every state, in accordance with the 1970 Declaration on Principles of International Law, is obliged to refrain from any violent action that could prevent peoples from exercising their right to self-determination. Analyzing the characteristics of self-determination in the socio-political life of a society and a person, the author shows that self-determination is a process and a result of a social community choosing its own program of cultural, socio-economic or political self-realization. The political and legal phenomenology of self-determination presupposes the obligation of free will regarding this choice, which emphasizes the role of a referendum and other forms of plebiscite on any issue of self-determination.

The principle of the sovereign equality of states

Each state is obliged to respect the sovereignty of other participants in the system, that is, their right to exercise legislative, executive, administrative and judicial power within their own territory without any interference from other states, as well as independently pursue their foreign policy. This principle is reflected in paragraph 1 of Art. 2 of the UN Charter, which states: "The Organization is founded on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members."

The main purpose of the principle of sovereign equality is to ensure legally equal participation in international relations of all states, regardless of economic, social, political or other differences. Since states are equal participants in international communication, they all have fundamentally the same rights and obligations.

The principle of fulfillment in good faith of obligations under international law

This principle arose in the form of the international legal custom pacta sunt servanda in the early stages of the development of statehood, and is currently reflected in numerous bilateral and multilateral international agreements.

The principle of fulfilling obligations in good faith is enshrined in the UN Charter , the preamble of which emphasizes the determination of the members of the UN to "create conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be observed." According to paragraph 2 of Art. 2 of the Charter, "all Members of the United Nations shall fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed under this Charter to secure to them all in the aggregate the rights and benefits arising from membership in the Membership of the Organization."

This principle applies only to valid agreements. This means that the principle in question applies only to international treaties concluded voluntarily and on the basis of equality. Any unequal international treaty first of all violates the sovereignty of the state and as such violates the UN Charter , since the United Nations is “founded on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members”, which, in turn, have committed themselves to “develop friendly relations among nations based on respect principle of equality and self-determination of peoples”.

The principle is believed to have originated since 1648 ( Peace of Westphalia after the Thirty Years' War ), when the representatives of the states gathered at a round table as equal participants.

The principle of inviolability of state borders

This principle regulates the relations of states regarding the establishment and protection of the border separating them and the resolution of disputes in connection with the border. The idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe inviolability of borders first received its legal form in the agreement between the USSR and the FRG of August 12, 1970 , and then in the agreements between the PPR , the GDR and Czechoslovakia with the FRG. Since that time, the inviolability of borders has become a norm of international law. The content of the principle and trends in its development can also be traced through resolutions and declarations of international organizations. These primarily include acts of UN bodies, in particular the 1970 Declaration of Principles Concerning Friendly Relations between States, as well as the Declaration and the Document on Confidence Building Measures of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, which are devoted to the institute of confidence building measures, which is new for the principle under consideration. . "The participating States regard as inviolable all one another's frontiers, as well as the frontiers of all states in Europe, and therefore they will refrain now and in the future from any encroachment on these frontiers."

The rights of states in accordance with this principle consist in the requirement of the absolute inviolability of the established borders, the illegality of changing them without agreement or under pressure, with the use of force and the threat of force. States themselves determine the border crossing regime, the procedure for establishing or lifting any restrictions on border crossing by individuals, goods, services, and so on. In the light of this, the main obligations of states are determined - strict observance of established borders, dividing or demarcation lines, including armistice lines, resolution of border disputes only by peaceful means, and failure to provide assistance to states that violate the principle. The main content of the principle of inviolability of borders is reduced to three elements:

• recognition of existing borders as legally established in accordance with international law;

• waiver of any territorial claims now or in the future;

• renunciation of any other encroachment on these boundaries, including the threat or use of force.

The principle of territorial integrity of states

This principle was established with the adoption of the UN Charter, which prohibited the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity (inviolability) and political independence of any state.

The next stage in the development of this principle was the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in 1975, which contains a separate and most complete formulation of the principle of the territorial integrity of States: “The participating States will respect the territorial integrity of each of the participating States. Accordingly, they will refrain from any action inconsistent with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations against the territorial integrity, political independence or unity of any participating State and, in particular, from any such action that constitutes the use of force or the threat of force. . The participating States will likewise refrain from making each other's territory the object of military occupation or other direct or indirect measures of the use of force in violation of international law, or the object of acquisition by means of such measures or the threat of them.

The principle of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms

The formation of this principle as one of the main international legal principles is directly related to the adoption of the UN Charter . In the preamble of the CharterUN members reaffirmed "faith in fundamental human rights ... in the equality of men and women ..." In Art. 1 states as the aim of the Members of the Organization co-operation among them "in the promotion and development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion". According to Art. 55 of the Charter "The United Nations promotes: a) raising the standard of living, full employment of the population and conditions for economic and social progress and development; ... c) universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all ..." In Art. 56 provides that “all Members of the Organization undertake to take joint and independent action in cooperation with the Organization to achieve the goals specified in Art. 55". The content of this principle is most precisely specified in1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights . Direct regulation and protection of human rights and freedoms is an internal affair of each state. The vast majority of international human rights norms cannot be applied directly on the territory of the state and require certain steps from it for its implementation .