Acceso usuarios
Gerd Hankel
In Ruti Teitel's view there is absolutely no doubt that we live in a world in which legal relationships are undergoing ever more significant change, a fact of which she informs the reader right at the beginning of her book. States alone are no longer the main actors; instead persons and peoples are assuming greater prominence. Their interests and needs for protection increasingly dictate the content of international law which is becoming humanity's law as a result.
It is very possible that those who pride themselves on adopting a perspective informed by realpolitik would refute this view with a dismissive gesture and refer with a benign smile to China's and Russia's latest veto against a resolution of the UN Security Council that was intended finally to bring an end to the killing in Syria. Two large and powerful states stressed the traditional understanding of sovereignty with the associated ban on intervention in the internal affairs of another state, leaving no room for the vital needs of the people who become the abused object of this sovereignty. However, even these international law realists must acknowledge that the veto by China and Russia triggered a global storm of indignation and, moreover, not solely on the part of international civil society but also among the majority of states, including the members of the Arab League. For all of them, the protection of the Syrian population against murderous state despotism is and was more important than respect for Syrian sovereignty which, in this case, is truly blind to the reality of the situation. This alone supports the emergence of a humanity law as perceived by Ruti Teitel. If we consider the many other examples she describes and analyses in her book, we can only agree with her wholeheartedly. A humanity law is currently emerging, �
