Hans Blix on Law and Peace

I was meant to spend this afternoon at the Bank of England, with most of the senior Cabinet Ministers from Slovakia, so I could write a feature for ‘Diplomat’ magazine, but their flight to London was cancelled because of the storms. So instead, I returned to SOAS, to attend the 6th Ruth Steinkraus-Cohen International Law Lecture in the Brunei Gallery. Hans Blix, the Swedish Chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, as well as President of the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA), was the speaker, giving an admirable presentation on Law and Peace.

He used to be a Law Professor himself, as well as history’s most famous weapons inspector. Although he said nothing particularly newsworthy, the packed audience was inspired by his courage and integrity, as Khawar Qureshi, QC, Vice-Chairman of the International Committee of the Bar Council, rightly noted in his vote of thanks. Mr Blix came under a barrage of vilification from Washington, Baghdad and elsewhere in the run-up to the Iraq War, but he was ultimately totally vindicated. Moreover, he was neither destroyed nor disillusioned by the whole experience, as lesser mortals would have been. He remains an optimist, helped by the fact that he sees things in the long-term. Though there are still crises and conflicts in the world, the number of wars between states has diminished, and in most of Europe they are now unthinkable. Mr Blix even sees hope across the Atlantic. As he put it, the Americans were ‘high’ on military power following the collapse of Soviet might. But the quagmire of Iraq and the disaster of the Israeli intervention in Lebanon in 2006 have rather dimmed Washington’s enthusiasm for military solutions. Moreover, he added, whichever of the three leading contenders for the US presidency actually wins, they will be better informed than the current occupant of the White House.