In the reading of Chapter 5: International Law, it describes international law to be rules and principles that govern the interactions between states and individuals. The contents regarding to international law ranges between domestic, regional and public/private international law. Something that I found interesting in the reading, was International humanitarian law, which is the law of armed conflict meaning laws that are applicable when states are at war. This law regulates how states should behave at times of war. For example, at times of war, the killings of humans are allowed but certain categories of people are to be untouched. These categories are for example, the sick and wounded prisoners of war and civilians. Important conventions like the Hague and Geneva have adopted these kinds of laws that transcend national borders.

This international law always bothered me because, states are bound to ignore the laws adopted by the conventions. For example, even though Japan signed the Geneva Convention which was established in 1929, they never ratified it so Japan did not need to abide by the laws. As a result, in WW2, Japan had committed several war crimes, including the violation of humanitarian laws in Korea and China. Furthermore, transnational terrorist groups are not bound by these laws, as a result how can these issues be prevented?

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