International law and the rules based order are not dead. The violators want us to believe they are.

I have seen a variety of justifications of Trump’s ILLEGAL attack on Venezuela (which has not brought an end to the regime in Venezuela, nor has it brought freedom to the people of Venezuela!!), but I would like to focus on the two claims regarding international law and international order:
1. International law has not been violated as it is dead.
2. It does not matter if the US violated international law because the international order is dead.

Regarding the first, “There is no such thing as international law. The violations prove international law is dead.”

It is hard for me to understand this reasoning. Its absurdity is amply demonstrated if we apply it to another area of law: “There is no such thing as criminal law. People violate the law and commit crimes all the time. Criminal law is dead.”

Sounds rather silly, doesn’t it. Because it is. Violations of law do not render the law dead. A VIOLATION of a law proves the law’s existence, not its death. And violations of a law most certainly do not render an entire field of law “dead” either.

The absurdity of the assertion that “international law is dead” is also laid bare by the fact that when we have violations of international law, legal recourse is sought through international courts and tribunals like the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, the World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement System, The European Court of Human Rights, The International Tribunal for the Law of Sea, African Court on Human and People’s Rights, to name just a few. These tribunals and courts are used for prosecuting crimes, dispute resolution, advisory opinions, and for interpretation of laws and treaties.

We have these bodies to uphold the ORDER, peace, stability, predictability, cooperation, etc. which international law is meant to create.

This brings me to the second argument about the “death” of the international order. Just as violations of the law do not render the field of law “dead,” they also do not render the death of the international order.

While I believe that the international rules-based order has indeed been harmed by a systemically insufficient response to Russian aggression against Ukraine since 2014, it is NOT dead. The rules-based order is harmed, but alive. And while the international order has been harmed, this does not justify any other violations of international law or further harm of the international order. But the order still exists.

Cases are regularly brought before the tribunals and courts listed above, including by the victim of Russian aggression itself.

While not nearly enough, Russian aggression has been met with international response. The international community has responded to Russian crimes with economic sanctions, and humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine. The International Court of Justice held that Russia should cease its aggression against Ukraine. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has a formal Investigation into the Situation in Ukraine to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity, and a Country Office of the International Criminal Court in Ukraine which strengthens cooperation and assistance between the Government of Ukraine and the ICC to further support the ICC’s mandate was opened. The ICC has also issued several arrest warrants including for Putin himself. On January 1, 2025, Ukraine became a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Prior to Russia’s massive military escalation of the war in 2022, the European Court of Human Rights found in Ukraine’s favour on a number of issues.

While it is true that we have not had consistent application of laws and treaties, neither international law or the international order are dead.

Those who makes statements about the death or either or both are either ignorant of facts or, much more cynically, working to justify violations of both.

But we should not allow such assertions go unchallenged because the implications of behaving like international law and international rules-based order are “dead” is to act our way into total chaos and lawlessness. Those who want you to believe that there truly is “no international law” or that “the international order is dead” want you to accept violations of international law when it suits them. They want you to believe that their crimes are not crimes. They want you to accept their crimes.

Those who dismiss Trump’s gross violation on the prohibition of the use of force because “law is dead” want you to give up. Be silent. Do not fight. Succumb. Accept. There are no crimes, but if there are, order is dead anyway.

Don’t be fooled. Don’t tolerate their lies. Don’t tolerate their violations of law. Don’t let them enslave you in a world of Might Makes Right.