Proposals to Improve the Effectiveness of Public International Law Sanctions

Public international law, like other legal systems, has the primary role to ensure the social international order, mainly by formulating legal rules that must be complied with by the subjects to whom they apply and by putting in place binding rules penalizing violations, named in the doctrine sanctioning legal norms or penalties, which can be enforced in the eventual cases of failure to abide by the established compliance norms. However, because not all states are parties to or have ratified the instruments that provide for public international law sanctions, or do not agree to their application in certain circumstances, such sanctions cannot be enforced against certain states or other entities. In view of this, a more efficient involvement of all states is necessary for the implementation and application of international regulations that should ensure the establishment of more equitable relationships among public international law entities. This would also ensure more stability in international relations and better cooperation, by combining the efforts of all the states with the aim to prevent and eliminate major conflicts, acts of terrorism, and international crime in general, which would be impossible to take place as they do now, without them being supported or tolerated by certain states.