Non-use of force principle highly relevant for Syria events - Lavrov
MOSCOW. Oct 17 (Interfax) - The situation involving Syria has made international law's founding principle prohibiting the use of force highly relevant, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"It is true that international law does not have a system of enforcement and punishment for violations that is characteristic of countries' national laws. But this trait is a logical consequence of the principle of sovereign equality of states. States are equal in their rights, and therefore, their consent is needed to create a controlling or enforcing mechanism in relation to actions they take," Lavrov said in an interview to Mikhail Barshchevsky, a member of the Association of Lawyers of Russia, published in the weekly issue of Rossiiskaya Gazeta on Thursday.
"If we talk about such a universal and fundamental international legal principle as the non-use of force, it is hard not to agree that the situation surrounding Syria has once again made this subject extremely relevant," he said.
"It cannot be denied that some countries, being guided by opportunistic interests, try from time to time to make exceptions to the general principle prohibiting the use of force. And we recently heard alarming remarks about acceptability of using military force for promoting one's interests in this or that region," Lavrov said.
"It is obvious to us that, the more a country undermines the principle of non-use of force or the threat to use force in word and in deed, the less it can expect that others would observe it. This is a dangerous road leading to the destruction of the foundation of contemporary international architecture. After all, not a single state, even the strongest one, can develop appropriately amid chaos, which would inevitably appear as a result of the unlimited use of force," Lavrov said.
