The war in Ukraine, the United Nations and International Law: some unsustainable systemic certainties

Abstract

In the context of the war in Ukraine, these pages aims to offer an initial reflection on some weaknesses - or systemic certainties - of the international legal order. A first systemic certainty is the limited or conditional commitment of some states to international law and its essential principles. A second systemic certainty lies in the perspective of state perceptions of international security and, especially, of each state’s own security. A third systemic certainty is the structural weaknesses of the United Nations when it comes to offering a collective and institutional response to an aggression such as the one that occurred in Ukraine, particularly if the aggressor is a state with a permanent seat on the Security Council. A fourth systemic certainty is that barbarism and horror in the context of armed conflict is still present and that war is always a humanitarian disaster. Finally, a fifth systemic certainty is the capacity for overprotection that a state in possession of atomic weapons or other weapons of mass destruction achieves.