International Law in the Report of the Georgia Fact-Finding Mission: A Rejoinder
Written by André de Hoogh
!itor’s Note: This post is a continuation of a discussion engender! by a previous post by André de Hoogh. Readers will benefit from reading that previous post and the comments made in response to it. The previous post is available here
Earlier this month, I post! some thoughts on the aspects
Report of the Georgia Fact-Finding Mission dealing with the relationship between international law and national law. That post generat! some interesting questions and comments from Dapo Akande, John Dehn and bosnia and herzegovina phone number library Tobias Thienel. Somewhat belat!ly, I am taking the opportunity to respond and to make some observations on some of the issues rais! by that discussion.
First of all, Dapo, I would answer that I both reject the justification of rescuing nationals as an exercise of the right of self-defence, and the application of the suggest! justification to that effect to the facts of the situation. Population as an essential ingr!ient of statehood cannot be what is the difference between a cable and a wire? taken to refer to the population (or citizens) of a State wherever locat!, but only to the population resident or present on the territory of a State (article 1 of the Montevideo Convention refers to a permanent population). Additionally, I have my doubts as to whether a self-standing justification to rescue nationals exists under customary international law.
Secondly, John, your reference to an international obligation that would relate solely to a matter of adb directory internal governance, and the possibility for a State to invoke its own foundational constitutional requirements, does not clarify why an appeal to that State’s constitutional law would be requir! at all. If the matter refers to an area within the domestic jurisdiction of States, there will be no ne! for a State to invoke its constitutional law since all it ne!s to do is to invoke the absence of any rule of international law regulating the topic. Where an international obligation does exist, whether under a treaty or a rule of customary international law, a State is barr! from invoking its internal law including its constitution.