The North and South Divide in the Practice and Application of International Law: A Humanitarian and Human Right Law Perspective

Abdul Hamid Kwarteng,Thomas Prehi Botchway

doi:10.5539/jpl.v11n1p79

Abdul Hamid Kwarteng, Thomas Prehi Botchway

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5539/jpl.v11n1p79

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Abstract

The North and South divide in the practice and application of international laws have been previously perceived to be evident in international environmental law where the Global developed North countries on the one hand advocate for a collective action to protect the environment while the Global developing Southern countries, on the other hand, argue for social and economic justice in practice. However, in recent times the North and South divide has permeated other aspects of international law such as International Human right and International Humanitarian law (IHL), hence the essence of this article. Thus, this article contributes to the existing literature by providing evidence to the existence of the North and South divide in the application of IHL and human right law.The article is divided into four main parts. The first part gives an introduction to the North and South divide in the application of international law. The second part reviews the literature on the existence of North and South divide in the application of international environmental laws. The third part gives a new dimension to the North and South divide in the application of international humanitarian and human right laws with the Syrian Crisis, Malaysian Airline flight MH17 and the 2007 draft resolution on the peace and security of Myanmar as the case studies. The last part concludes by giving an overview of how this phenomenon threatens world peace and consequently offers some recommendations.

Highlights

The North and South divide in a general sense are viewed as a socio-economic and political divide
The North and South divide in the practice and application of international laws have been previously perceived to be evident in international environmental law where the Global developed North countries on the one hand advocate for a collective action to protect the environment while the Global developing Southern countries, on the other hand, argue for social and economic justice in practice
One can infer from the above that evidence to support the existence of North and South Divide in the practice of international law does exist in areas of International environmental laws and this divide exists in the application and practice of international Humanitarian and Human right law as well

Summary

Introduction

The North and South divide in a general sense are viewed as a socio-economic and political divide. The Global North (First World) generally refers to the richer and more developed countries like the United States, France, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia among others. According to Singh (2014), even though in recent times one can argue that China is experiencing rapid development in various sectors of the economy, it is still considered as part of the Global South developing countries. The reason for this is that China has a huge population and its per capita income is relatively low coupled with huge regional disparities in terms of development. With regards to human development index, China is ranked in the middle and if one takes a comprehensive analysis of China’s negotiations with developed countries on matters of trade, environment, technology and climate change, it argues and negotiates from a developing country’s perspective

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