Public International Law 2014-15 Essay Assignment PART A (4,000 words) You are the government legal advisor in the state of Ruritania, a small developing…

Public International Law 

2014-15 

Essay Assignment 

PART A (4,000 words) 

You are the government legal advisor in the state of Ruritania, a small developing country that has recently seen growing tensions with its neighbours, Cascadia and Urbania.

Advise your government on the following issues:

(a) There has been growing civil unrest in the eastern provinces of Ruritania, close to the border with Cascadia, where the majority of the local population identify themselves as ethnically Cascadian. Over the last year a local rebel group, the Cascadian Liberation Army (CLA), has claimed responsibility for a number of suicide bomb attacks in the Ruritanian capital, Agrippa. These attacks were aimed at government targets but resulted in massive loss of civilian life. Although the Cascadian authorities have publicly denounced the actions of the CLA, it is well known that the country’s president is sympathetic to their cause. Furthermore, it is claimed that Cascadian secret services have been equipping the CLA with weaponry and providing intelligence on targeting government facilities in the Ruritanian capital.

 

To what extent can Ruritania invoke Cascadia’s international legal responsibility for the conduct of the CLA’s terror attacks? If so, how can your government respond to this breach of international law?

(b) To the west, Ruritania borders the state of Urbania, with both countries having a coastline on the Asiatic Sea. In response to human rights concerns over Ruritania’s backlash against suspected CLA insurgents following the suicide bombings in Agrippa, Urbania has increased its navy presence in the Asiatic sea, sending a number of warships and nuclear-powered submarines through Ruritanian territorial waters.

 

Fearing that Urbania may mount a military attack against it, to what extent can Ruritania restrict or control entry to its territorial waters? On the basis that such an attack may be imminent, to what extent does international law permit Ruritania to use force in self-defence?

PART B (3,000 words) 

“Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice is a woefully inadequate statement of the sources of contemporary international law.”

 

Critically discuss the above proposition.