Speaking at the closing ceremony of the first international conference on "Unilateralism and International Law" at the Faculty of Law and Political Science of Allameh Tabataba'i University, Abed Akbari added that in this conference, while examining the situation, "we intended to address the question in the face of the current status governing the destructive and disruptive rules of game of some of the main players of the international system", what can be considered a favorable situation.
He noted that although multilateralism has been the core of the post-World War international order, in recent years we have seen threats against multilateral international system by some of its actors, especially the United States. Exit from the Paris Climate Pact, Exit from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (IFN), exit from the JCPOA and thereafter, the threat of withdrawal from many treaties as a tool to threaten the international community are just a few examples of US unilateralism; measures taken by any other states in the international system, too, is despicable and unacceptable, and it raises fundamental questions for us in the field of international law and relations.
The president of the “International Conference on Unilateralism and International Law” raised the following questions as to why measures should be taken at a time of expansion of communications and the proximity of nations and states constitutes the return to the darkness of the pre-World Wars era? Will the governments' silence against these unilateral actions lead to the formation of a dangerous procedure and, consequently, further destruction of the existing international order and system? And what steps should be taken to form a "global norm-based resistance identity" to consolidate multilateralism as a tradition of problem-solving and identity in the international system?
Akbari reiterated whatever the answers, that unilateralism justified the importance and priority of national interests over any international alliance and treaty and would only provide the dangerous ground for these actions to become a normal practice in international relations, just as they are. That the analysis of these actions based on the concept of power as the concept of explaining anti-normative behaviors in the international community is justifying and describing the status quo and is in conflict with the human spirit of justice.
He added that in the last days of the second decade of the 21st century, and when US actions have been criticized by its strategic allies and partners, there are two reactions: first, some governments that benefit from the existing system and order and support the system, are opposed to unilateralism, but they know that disrupting the existing order will increase their costs and halt the process of becoming more powerful, so they will try to respond to existing unilateralism by re-enforcing existing rules and encouraging the US to return to multilateral treaties and practices. The actions of European governments are evidence of this.
The director of Tehran's Abrar Moaser Institute described the second category as actors today known in the field of international relations as global actors, or in a different sense, the non-Western world, and said that they were moving towards their own narrative of a desirable order, a world that, with the slogans of "justice" and “order" move toward illustrating a more just system. This move in the non-Western world, shaped by the nature of the rotation of power and the rise of emerging actors and powers, shapes new paradigms of international legal order in which the hope and belief of “becoming” under the banner of multilateralism and cooperation are more open and accessible to the whole world beforehand.
In the meantime, the Islamic Republic of Iran has also shown its willingness to act in the field of international law and as part of the international community, the ground and context in which it is committed to advancing political, economic and security affairs through diplomacy and tools. All those countries should fairly pursue their interests. The emphasis on the concept of the international community is done with the full awareness that acting on world-accepted practices not only reduces the amount of conflict and violence and war between governments but can also provide a basis for the nations to come closer together.
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