Seventy-five years of India’s Independence is an occasion to not just rejoice in our accomplishments but also to introspect on our failings. While a wide variety of issues have been discussed from this vantage point, an analysis of India’s tryst with international law has not been undertaken.
Despite international law being ruler’s law and its euro-centric character, India did not jettison it at the time of its independence. India’s Constitution makers saw the value of international law and thus provided in Article 51 that the state shall foster respect for international law. At the same time, under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, India made it abundantly clear that the emergence of post-colonial States has transmuted the ‘geography’ of international law. India asserted its sovereignty and championed the principle of self-determination in international law including by playing a key role in organising the first Asian-African Conference at Bandung in 1955, proclaiming that colonialism should “speedily be brought to an end”.
Since those days, India has remained steadfastly committed to the UN Charter and has always advocated the peaceful settlement of international disputes. Over the years, India’s engagement with international law norms in multiple fields such as human rights, trade, investment, environment, ocean, space, etc. has expanded vastly. India has played an active role in shaping international law on terrorism by proposing a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT), and recently initiated the International Solar Alliance (ISA), a bold attempt to influence international environmental law.
