Jurist: The US Abandons Legal Obligations in Syria

Donald Trump undermined numerous US commitments, institutions, policies and values in his summit with Vladimir Putin. The rest of the world has long depended on the United States to uphold human rights, justice and other values. Syrians – under attack by extremists and Russian intervention – are vulnerable. Millions of Syrians have been displaced and thousands killed, some with chemical weapons. Writing for Jurist, Louis Rene Beres argues that Trump also ignored binding US legal obligations regarding Russian war crimes in Syria. “Under mutually reinforcing rules of national and international law – rules that are known more formally as 'peremptory' or ‘jus cogens’ norms because they permit ‘no derogation’ – an American president simply has no recognizable right to ignore egregious Russian war crimes committed against Syrian civilians,” he writes. “This absolute prohibition extends to literally any conceivable reason or pretext for such indifference.” The international community, including the United States, is impotent when it comes to standing up for the rule of law and speaking out against human rights violations. – YaleGlobal