The notions of “peoples”, “nations” and “mankind” in International Law

Abstract

Today the competition among states to promote their international legal policy is intensifying and there is evident need for convincing interpretation of the core notions provided in the UN Charter and other universal treaties, yet not defined in these instruments. In light of this political and legal background, the present article explores the international law scope of the terms “nation” and “people” and whether all states are considered as “nations” under the terms of the UN Charter. The authors also investigate the concept of “mankind” from the standpoint of the law of treaties concluding that such a concept is not legally identical to the term “international community of states”.