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Unilateral action in Iraq ’would violate international law’
Australia would unquestionably be breaching international law if it followed the United States into a war in Iraq without United Nations backing, and could be sued in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), a leading constitutional expert has warned. Professor George Williams, of the University of NSW, said yesterday it was "very concerning" that there had been so little debate on the legality of Australia's potential involvement in Iraq without the sanction of the UN Security Council. He said the position under international law was clear."If you ask is Australia justified as a matter of law in joining unilateral action in Iraq, the answer is clearly and unequivocally no. "It's no because there has not been a Security Council resolution that could justify such a conflict, and clearly self-defence of Australia is not at stake." Unlike the US, which has never submitted itself to the jurisdiction of the ICJ, Australia could potentially be sued by Iraq or "some other country that's been affected", he said. "And that could be a messy, long-running battle ..." However, such a scenario was unlikely because of the difficulties in bringing a case to the ICJ and the possibility that Iraq might not, after any US-led war, want to take such a matter to the world court. Yes, there is that one little point. Those dammed Iraqi's will most likely be too busy stringing up Sammy's crowd to notice that the US and Australia broke international law by setting them free. Don't they see the big picture? Posted by: Steve 2003-01-29 |
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