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In Search of Solidarity in International Law

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The Principle of Solidarity

Part of the book series: Global Europe: Legal and Policy Issues of the EU’s External Action ((GELPIEEA,volume 2))

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Abstract

This chapter argues that international law as it currently stands is not a legal system based on solidarity, nor is there any evidence that such a system is emerging. To the contrary, it is asserted that manifestations of ‘solidarity’ in modern international law simply reflect a duty of co-operation—a duty which is transactional in nature, and thus akin to the bilateralist character of classic international law. The inadequate responses to modern challenges such as poverty and vaccination attest to the lack of solidarity in modern international law. Ultimately, the idea that international law embodies or aspires to a sense of solidarity is contingent upon the existence of an ‘international community’. However, there is very little evidence to buttress the proposition that this ‘international community’ really exists. Therefore, it is incumbent on actors and international actors not to simply will solidarity into existence but to carefully promote the infusion of the principle of solidarity into the very fabric, methodology and raison d’être of the international legal system.

This chapter is based on the keynote speech I held at an Asser Institute conference on 28 October 2021.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Tladi 2020a.

  2. 2.

    Ibid., at p. 389, stating that those “with the influence, the power, will yield it—the word ‘it’ is purposefully used ambiguously to refer to either power or international law—for either good or bad”.

  3. 3.

    Tladi 2020b.

  4. 4.

    See UN General Assembly (2019) UN General Assembly Resolution on Global Solidarity to Fight the Coronavirus Disease, UN Doc A/RES/74/270.

  5. 5.

    See Oxfam Press (2020) Campaigners Warn that 9 out of 10 People in Poor Countries Are Set to Miss Out on COVID-19 Vaccine Next Year. https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/campaigners-warn-9-out-10-people-poor-countries-are-set-miss-out-covid-19-vaccine. Accessed 8 November 2021.

  6. 6.

    See, e.g. Tladi 2013; 2019a; 2021.

  7. 7.

    Tladi 2009; 2014; 2015; 2017; 2019b.

  8. 8.

    Statement by South Africa to the UN General Assembly on Oceans and the Law of the Sea, 4 December 2009 (on file with author).

  9. 9.

    Tladi 2007.

  10. 10.

    Ibid., p. 250.

  11. 11.

    See generally the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (1982) adopted 27 June 1981, entered into force 21 October 1986, 21 ILM 58, Articles 19–21. See generally Umozurike 1983 and Bondzie-Simpson 1988.

  12. 12.

    See, e.g., Bondzie-Simpson 1988, pp. 644–645.

  13. 13.

    Simma 1994, pp. 229–233.

  14. 14.

    Held 2003, p. 162; Tladi 2020a, pp. 373 et seq.

  15. 15.

    Allott 1990, p. 324.

  16. 16.

    Dupuy 2005; Jouannet 2007.

  17. 17.

    Simma 1994.

  18. 18.

    Ibid., p. 234.

  19. 19.

    Ibid.

  20. 20.

    Dugard 2007, p. 731.

  21. 21.

    See in this respect Delbrück 2012, at p. 4, explaining why cooperation in a context that does not constitute “an undue burden on States” is acceptable but a general duty to cooperate outside particular contexts is difficult to conceive.

  22. 22.

    Koroma 2012, p. 103.

  23. 23.

    Ibid. Compare with Delbrück’s context-specific description of cooperation under international law. Delbrück 2012, p. 4.

  24. 24.

    Tladi 2022.

  25. 25.

    World Bank Group 2018, p. 1.

  26. 26.

    Ibid., p. 1. The report states that “[d]espite the more sluggish global growth of recent years, the total count of people in extreme poverty declined by more than 68 million people between 2013 and 2015—a number roughly equivalent to the population of Thailand or the United Kingdom”.

  27. 27.

    Ibid., p. 7.

  28. 28.

    See Brand 2005, p. 2. See generally Khoza 2004.

  29. 29.

    Osuji and Obibuaku 2016, p. 331.

  30. 30.

    See Article 34 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, opened for signature 23 May 1969, entered into force 27 January 1980, 1155 UNTS 331 (VCLT).

  31. 31.

    See Askin 2019.

  32. 32.

    Ibid. In regard to civil and political rights, see ICJ, Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion, 9 July 2004, 2004 I.C.J. Reports 136, at para 109; see also IACtHR, State Obligations in Relation to the Environment in Relation in the Context of the Protection and Guarantee of the Rights to Life and to Personal Integrity: Interpretation and Scope of Articles 1(1) and 2 of the American Convention on Human Rights, Advisory Opinion, 15 November 2017, OC-23/17, at paras 73 et seq.

  33. 33.

    Institut de Droit International 2021.

  34. 34.

    Ibid., p. 1 (“Affirming that protection of persons from epidemics without discrimination of any kind and regardless of the sources and cause of the disease is a common concern of humankind”).

  35. 35.

    See Hakimi 2017.

  36. 36.

    See Draft Conclusion 2 of the ILC (2019) Draft Conclusions on peremptory norms of general international law (jus cogens), UN Doc. A/74/10, pp. 141–208. https://legal.un.org/ilc/reports/2019/english/chp5.pdf. Accessed 6 September 2022 (“A peremptory norm of general international law (jus cogens) is a norm accepted and recognized by the international community of States as a whole as a norm from which no derogation is permitted and which can be modified only by a subsequent norm of general international law having the same character.”).

  37. 37.

    Ibid., Draft Conclusion 3 (“Peremptory norms of general international law (jus cogens) reflect and protect fundamental values of the international community, are hierarchically superior to other rules of international law and are universally applicable.”).

  38. 38.

    Ibid., Draft Conclusion 17 (“Peremptory norms of general international law (jus cogens) give rise to obligations owed to the international community as a whole (obligations erga omnes), in which all States have a legal interest.”).

  39. 39.

    See UN General Assembly (2005) Resolution on the 2005 World Summit Outcome, A/60/1, especially para 138 (“The international community should, as appropriate, encourage and help States to exercise this responsibility ..”) and para 139 (“The international community, through the United Nations, also has the responsibility to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, in accordance with Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter, to help to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.”).

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  1. University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Dire Tladi

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  1. T.M.C. Asser Institute, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Eva Kassoti

  2. T.M.C. Asser Institute, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Narin Idriz

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Tladi, D. (2023). In Search of Solidarity in International Law. In: Kassoti, E., Idriz, N. (eds) The Principle of Solidarity. Global Europe: Legal and Policy Issues of the EU’s External Action, vol 2. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-575-1_2

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