" (i) Sovereign characteristics
As a starting point, each sovereign has absolute power within its own territory with respect to its own people. Interference in the sovereign affairs of a state is a violation of international law "
" How is this domestic supremacy upheld in the realm of external relations, especially in a society of sovereign nations? As Article 2(1) of the United Nations Charter states, all sovereign states are equal[2]. Whatever the real disparities in power, influence and wealth between states, all states, from a legal perspective, are formally equal.
These positions are rendered more fully by the prohibition on the use of force against the “territorial integrity or political independence of any state[3]”, stated in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. The concurrent right of a state to self-defence, arguably its most fundamental right, is stated in Article 51 of the UN Charter ".
" International law can be seen then as having two dimensions, one intra-European and the other extra-European, and it is only by appreciating both realities that we may better understand international law and its operation.
This dual character of international law is further suggested by the fact that the great seventeenth century Dutch jurist, Hugo Grotius, who is generally regarded as the founder of the discipline for his great work The Rights of War and Peace, was also the lawyer for the Dutch East India company, and many of his works were written to justify the colonial expansion of his employer.
(i) Colonialism
By the nineteenth century, Western international lawyers read into the concept of sovereignty a requirement that ignored all cultural sensitivities: a standard of civilisation.
This disadvantaged all societies that were not created in the image of the West. And so international lawyers determined that African societies lacked sovereignty because they failed to meet 'the standard of civilisation' that any entity claiming to be sovereign had to comply with. Asian states too fell outside this margin.
Consequently, African societies, denied of sovereign status, could not participate in the making of international law, but were nevertheless bound by it – as international law sought to bring the light of reason and civilisation to Africa. It became an object, but not a subject of international law.
The exploitation of Africa in the nineteenth century was initially conducted by trading companies-purporting to act on behalf of European states - such as the British East African Company and the British South Africa Company, which were deemed to possess sovereign rights.
The most dramatic example of Africa’s status in international law at the time is provided by the
Berlin Conference of 1884-1885. The signatories of the Berlin Conference - none of which were African - proclaimed themselves to be animated by the grand ideals of promoting humanitarianism, civilisation and commerce in the Congo region. Under the guise of designating the Congo basin a “free trade area”,
a number of powerful European states regulated the “Scramble for Africa”, redrawing Africa’s borders according to the interests of these leading external powers. However, these new boundary lines lacked any regard for realities on the ground and effectively divided African societies, which found themselves occupying different colonial states.
Notably, "civilisation and commerce" were regarded as completely complementary projects: it was through the promotion of trade - here understood as the exploitation of Africa’s natural resources - that the great cause of civilisation could be advanced.
A proper system of organisation and governance had to be established in order to enable the flourishing of commerce. Since African societies were incapable of providing such governance, Western intervention in the form of colonialism was viewed as essential.
What followed revealed the hollowness and hypocrisy of such proclamations. The Conference effectively granted control of the Congo to Leopold II of Belgium and it is estimated that between 4 and 8 million Africans were killed during his reign.
ii) Decolonisation and the New International Economic Order
In the progression of sovereignty, some of its exclusiveness has been jettisoned but other aspects of it have been used to maintain an unfair status quo.
The process of decolonisation and nationalist struggles conducted throughout Africa and Asia resulted in the acquisition of sovereignty.
These states, which had been denied of their sovereignty for so long, were understandably intent on affirming the importance of their newly won sovereignty and the principles of equality, non-aggression and non-intervention[5].
African and Asian states attempted to use the newly found sovereignty they had acquired to change an international legal system that they had played no role in creating, and which indeed had acted against their interests. For instance, these “new states”, attempted to regain control over their own natural resources. They sought to bring about this change by using their numbers in the UN General Assembly to pass a series of far reaching resolutions that were directed towards creating a “New International Economic Order”. The creation of such an order was vital for African states if they were to make economic progress and promote development. African nationalist leaders, such as Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah, realised that political sovereignty was only meaningful if accompanied by economic sovereignty.
From a legal point of view, however, these efforts were confronted by a basic problem: under international law, no state can be bound by a law unless it has consented, either implicitly or explicitly. This was an essential principle of the system of international law, and Western scholars argued that, in becoming sovereign and entering the system, the new African states had in effect agreed to abide by its rules. Thus, despite the fact that principles regarding permanent sovereignty over natural resources were endorsed by the vast majority of states in the world, they were not binding on Western states which refused to accept them. This left in place the older principles, which were made in colonial times and which the Western states claimed were binding on the new states despite the fact that the new states had played no role in creating them. Most of the initiatives undertaken by Asian and African states, then, were unsuccessful "
This maPoui, btw, is called
supporting evidence for the case in favour of SOVERIEGN RIGHTS FOR ALL NATIONS AT ALL TIMES.
You are free to present your own. I'm sorry, please excuse me,
how could I forget. You aren't required to prove your truth.
what claims cant I prove
more importantly what claims do I want to prove..or MUST prove
none that I can see.
http://thinkafricapress.com/internation ... overeignty" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
thanks lol
So your " yardie elite " will not have any influence or control over anything greater than your imagination.