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Avi Primor answers the following question

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Question

what is the purpose of public international law if there are no effective enforcement mechanisms to apply it? Maria Kyriacou


Answer

Avi Primor: Well, you can't claim that there is no mechanism for international law. First I have to say that there is a mechanism which isn't sufficient and somehow still restricted. That's right. But there are many more mechanisms than before. For example between the two world wars and definitely if you compare the situation today with the 19th century. So there are many more. There aren't only international committees but also sometimes international forces and there is the international court of justice. There is everything. The question is if that is sufficient. And it isn't sufficient. We have to develop and enlarge it. That doesn't mean what we have today is worthless and has no meaning, that only means that we haven't yet come far enough and that has something to do with development. And this development comes from the consciousness of people and from education. If the people get more and more international education and they become more and more democratic and they live the democratic values then such mechanisms will develop. That's how tribes, states and nations developed and that's how the international community develops. So it is a question of development. I think we are on the right way but it is a difficult and long way.