General considerations on violence and international law

Confronted with the conflictive nature of international relations, the contemporary establishment of peacekeeping law rests on a necessary selection of values : either primacy is granted to the State uti singuli, either a common interest, expressed in the idea if an international community, is defended. From the war doctrine to the United Nations system, positive peacekeeping law has evolved a lot, especially in the aftermath of cataclysms, such as the two World Wars. We are currently witnessing a particularly dangerous phase of withdrawal : in Kosovo, in Afghanistan, or in Iraq as well, the system of the United Nations Charter, which belongs to the logic of lesser harm, is attacked. If reason stands against psychological unilateralism, mans weaknesses seems to condemn the cause of the international community, the only cause that can save humanity from eternal violence. – Summary AFRI-2005

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