{"id":145671,"date":"2021-11-09T19:45:46","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T14:15:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=145671"},"modified":"2021-11-09T19:45:46","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T14:15:46","slug":"its-time-to-engage-in-lawfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/its-time-to-engage-in-lawfare\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s time to engage in \u2018lawfare\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

News:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>India has failed to\u00a0utilise\u00a0the international law to advance its national security interests.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

International laws cover wide array of security issues ranging from terrorism to maritime security. For example, Article 1(1) of the UN Charter recognizes the maintenance of \u201cinternational peace and security\u201d as a principal objective of the UN. However, India has not been able to fully\u00a0utilize\u00a0international law to advance its national security interest.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What are the examples of non-usage of international laws in India?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

First,<\/span><\/b>\u00a0after\u00a0Pulwama attack of\u00a0February 2019 by\u00a0a Pakistan-based terror outfit,\u00a0India struck the terror camps in Pakistan. However, in its justification for this action,\u00a0India did not invoke the<\/span>\u00a0right to self-defense,\u00a0<\/span><\/b>rather<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><\/b>it relied on a contested\u00a0<\/span>doctrine of \u2018non-military pre-emptive action\u2019<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Second,<\/span><\/b>\u00a0as\u00a0per General Agreements on Tariffs and\u00a0Trade (GATT), countries can deviate from their\u00a0<\/span>MFN obligations<\/span><\/b>\u00a0on grounds of national security.\u00a0But India did not use this provision for suspending the most\u00a0favored\u00a0nation (MFN) status of Pakistan after Pulwama.\u00a0Instead, India increased the\u00a0customs duties on all Pakistani products to 200% under\u00a0Customs Tariff Act, 1975.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Third,\u00a0<\/span><\/b>India\u00a0wants\u00a0to\u00a0<\/span>deport\u00a0Rohingya refugees<\/span><\/b>, as they\u00a0pose a security threat. But\u00a0the justification for this action is being given that India is not a\u00a0signatory to the Refugee Convention, whereas, India is bound by the principle of non-refoulment to not deport them.\u00a0National security is one of the exceptions to the non-refoulment principle in international refugee law, which is not used as a justification yet.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, there are also instances, like\u00a0Kulbhushan Jadhav case and pushing for\u00a0international law to counter terrorism, where India has\u00a0utilised\u00a0international laws\u00a0effectively.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why India is lagging behind in\u00a0\u2018lawfare\u2019?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lawfare means\u00a0using law as a weapon of national security.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

First,<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>International lawyers<\/span><\/b>\u00a0are\u00a0marginally involved in\u00a0foreign policymaking.<\/span>\u00a0Legal and Treaties Division<\/span><\/b>\u00a0of the Ministry of External Affairs is\u00a0understaffed and also ignored in policy making. This division\u00a0was\u00a0formed\u00a0to advice\u00a0government on international law matters.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Second,<\/span><\/b>\u00a0ministries like\u00a0Commerce and Finance with negligible expertise in international law, also\u00a0deal with different facets of international law.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Third,<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Institutions created to undertake cutting-edge research in international law are suffering from low\u00a0research\u00a0quality\u00a0and neglect.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fourth,<\/span><\/b>\u00a0many of the outstanding international law scholars have failed to\u00a0international law among the larger public.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>This post is based on the article\u00a0<\/span>\u201cIt\u2019s time to engage in \u2018lawfare\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0published in The Hindu on 9th November 2021.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News:\u00a0India has failed to\u00a0utilise\u00a0the international law to advance its national security interests.\u00a0\u00a0 International laws cover wide array of security issues ranging from terrorism to maritime security. For example, Article 1(1) of the UN Charter recognizes the maintenance of \u201cinternational peace and security\u201d as a principal objective of the UN. However, India has not been able… Continue reading It\u2019s time to engage in \u2018lawfare\u2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212],"class_list":["post-145671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145671\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}