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34 Harv. Int'l. L. J. 1 (1993)
Constitutionalism, Judicial Review, and the World Court

handle is hein.journals/hilj34 and id is 7 raw text is: VOLUME 34, NUMBER I, WINTER 1993

Constitutionalism, Judicial Review, and the
World Court
Geoffrey R. Watson*
With the end of the Cold War, the U.N. Security Council has
suddenly sprung to life. No longer paralyzed by superpower vetoes,
the Council has embarked on an era of unprecedented activism. In its
resolutions on the Iraq-Kuwait crisis, the Council went far beyond
anything it might have adopted just five years ago: it condemned the
invasion of Kuwait, imposed stiff economic sanctions on Iraq, and
eventually authorized the use of force to expel Iraqi troops from
Kuwait. I More recently, the Council has imposed economic and dip-
lomatic sanctions on Libya,2 taken an active role in the peace process
in Cambodia,3 and authorized the use of force for humanitarian pur-
poses in Bosnia and Herzegovina.4
Some states are concerned that the Security Council's newfouid
activism goes too far-that it infringes on state sovereignty. This
contention has been a running theme of Iraqi complaints about the
Council's resolutions on the Gulf War.' Similarly, several states have
expressed concerns about the Council resolutions ordering Libya to
extradite two Libyans accused of terrorism where extradition may not
have been required by international law and where Libyan law, like
that of many civil-law states, forbids the extradition of Libyan nation-
* Assistant Professor of Law, University of Puget Sound School of Law; B.A. Yale University,
J.D. Harvard Law School; Attorney-Adviser, U.S. Department of State, 1987-199 1. 1 would
like to thank Robert Menanteaux, senior research librarian at the University of Puget Sound
School of Law, and Elizabeth Lee, my research assistant, for their invaluable assistance. I would
also like to thank Jonathan B. Schwartz, Assistant Legal Adviser for Near Eastern and South
Asian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, for his helpful comments.
1. See S.C. Res. 660, U.N. SCOR, 45th Sess., 2932d mtg. at 19, U.N. Doc. S/INF/46
(1990) (condemning invasion); S.C. Res. 661, U.N. SCOR, 45th Sess., 2933d mtg. at 19,
U.N. Doc. S/INF/46 (1990) (imposing embargo); S.C. Res. 678, U.N. SCOR, 45th Sess.,
2963d mtg. at 27, U.N. Doc. S/INF/46 (1990) (authorizing use of force).
2. See S.C. Res. 748, U.N. SCOR, 47th Sess., 3063d mtg. at 2-3, U.N. Doc. SIRES/748
(1992), reprinted in 31 I.L.M. 750 (1992).
3. See S.C. Res. 766, U.N. SCOR, 47th Sess., 3099th mtg. (1992) (demanding that all
Cambodian parties cooperate with the U.N. transitional authority in Cambodia).
4. See S.C. Res. 770, U.N. SCOR, 47th Sess., 3106th mrg. (1992) (authorizing use of force
to facilitate humanitarian relief); see also S.C. Res. 771, U.N. SCOR, 47th Sess., 3106th mtg.
(1992) (relating to war crimes in Bosnia).
5. See, e.g., Paul Lewis, No Hint of Arms Found in Iraqi Ministry, N.Y. TIMeS, July 30,
1992, at A8, (reporting that Iraq, citing its sovereignty, refused U.N. officials access to Iraqi
ministries notwithstanding Security Council authorization).

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