International law is a set of legal rules whose main purpose is to
regulate relations between States and international actors. Its main objective is
to ensure peace, security, cooperation and respect for fundamental rights between
the nations.
He must...
-Maintain peace and security between states.
-Supervise exchanges (economic, diplomatic, etc.).
-Protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.
-Promote justice and the peaceful resolution of conflicts.
2. Maduro’s Venezuela: a textbook case of violations of international law
Since 2024, the Nicolás Maduro regime has been regularly accused of violating
systematically international law, in particular through non-compliance with the principles
democracy and sovereignty, and violations of human rights.
Beyond these failings, Venezuela contributes to destabilizing the region and
threaten its neighbors, particularly through international drug trafficking and the crisis
migratory. The Venezuelan people, for their part, are suffering the full brunt of crises
humanitarian, economic, health and repeated attacks on his rights
fundamental.
3. International sanctions: a sufficient response?
International law is designed to apply universally, regardless of
behavior of states.
And when states systematically violate this right, the community can impose
sanctions in various ways (as the EU did against officials
Venezuelans for human rights violations).
But are these measures really effective? They make it possible to mark a
disapproval and exerting pressure, but their real impact on the regimes
authoritarian remains limited.
4. Behind the numbers, broken lives
Without getting into sentimentalism, behind the figures and geopolitical concepts,
how can we not think of the Venezuelan people - as indeed of all the peoples of the
country under the disastrous yoke of despots, plutocrats, where neither democracy nor human rights
are respected. These leaders, often megalomaniacs, place their ego, their power and
their personal enrichment above all morality, with the complicity of those
which help them keep their loot.
5. Trump and Venezuela: between pragmatism and dangerous precedent
The Trump administration has often been criticized for its authoritarian excesses and its
disregard for international law. Between shock declarations and unilateral actions, its
methods raise concerns, as President Khaled Hamadé points out
(IIEG): “Certain practices create dangerous legal precedents. ". In the
Mr. Trump's plans for the future of Venezuela, do not really seem to concern the people
Venezuelan.
But can we deprive the Trump administration of the benefit of having removed a dictator?
(according to the International Community), and a drug lord (UN and UN reports
the DEA), and which is supported by the main countries to which democracy gives
buttons (I'm thinking of Russia, China and Iran.…)? This “decapitation” of power
— although illegitimate — did it at least make it possible to relieve, even partially, the
suffering of the Venezuelan people? The question remains open, especially for those who
believe in democracy as the best state system.
6. The UN and the right of veto: a brake on effectiveness?
Without another surprise intervention, the Trump administration will eventually fade into the background. Fault
what, as Mr. Hamadé fears, is a turning point towards more brutal societies, based
on the forces could be announced.
What future for international law?
Should we then rethink the role of the UN?
Its veto system, which allows a few nations to block decisions,
limits its effectiveness. How can we make this institution more agile and fairer, while
countries like Russia or China often protect controversial regimes?
There is hope.
We can imagine that the audacity of the United States – however questionable it may be – could
inspire reform of international law. Why not consider, in the future, a
mandate to intervene in cases of serious human rights violations? Such
measure, currently non-existent, could strengthen the effectiveness of the community
international.
Arrest of Nicolás Maduro: a turning point in the Sino-American rivalry
