UN General Assembly
2003

and crystallizing international law from 1945 to the present, which of the following fundamental principles are respected in practice or indeed safe in theory: the peaceful settlement of disputes; the right to self-determination, sovereignty and territorial integrity; non-interference in the internal affairs of States; the right of peoples to have the social and political system of their choice; respect for social, economic and political human rights; not to use force or the threat of force to settle disputes; respect for the international rule of law; abiding by the Charter of the United Nations; and working towards a world governance based on multilateralism and the rule of reason, rather than of force? “Which of those is safe? Indeed, in the international arena … we do seem to be in free fall towards barbarism”. Barbarism may not be new, but there does seem to be a greater tolerance for it and we do seem to be 22 more powerless to contain it. In a world riddled with fear and dominated by terrorism, including State