Nobel committee mounts explicit defence of international lawpublished at 13:01 BST
James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent
Image source, Getty ImagesBy honouring Navi Pillay, the Nobel committee is mounting an explicit defence of the post-WWII global order. International law, it says, is “under tremendous pressure”, its institutions “under attack”.
There is a “shift towards power politics at the expense of legal frameworks”.
But it insists nonetheless that “more and more conflicts are being addressed through diplomacy, treaties and legal mechanisms” and that “international law is a foundation for a more peaceful world”.
But there are many people in Ukraine, Iran, Gaza, Sudan, Myanmar and elsewhere who might disagree.
They might argue they have been failed by international law and treaties, and that their interests and security are better served instead by force of arms and the support of powerful allies.
As the late Sir Alex Younger, former UK MI6 chief, told the BBC last year: “We are in a new era where international relations are not going to be determined by rules and multi-lateral organisations. They are going to be determined by strong men and deals.”
It is against that bleak conclusion the Nobel committee is railing by awarding its prize to someone who is a living embodiment of the other side of the argument.
