Law

Patriotism and Common Good of Humanity

Challenges to Global Peace and Development

by Professor Dr Hans Köchler*, President of the International Progress Organization (I.P.O.)

(22 May 2026) (CH-S) With scholarly precision, Professor Dr Hans Köchler sets out the connection between peoples’ right to development and their right to peace. Against the backdrop of the West’s current power politics, he argues that the self-interests of states must be defined in the context of their reciprocity, so that all people worldwide may be granted their most fundamental rights. In doing so, he draws upon the prevailing norms of international law.

Below we reproduce the author’s impressive keynote speech, which he delivered at the Forum of the “Palais des Nations” in Geneva on 1 April 2026.

EU Commission wants to end the right of veto

by Thomas Oysmüller*

(15 May 2026) (CH-S) Through the rose-tinted glasses of the Swiss media, the EU appears as a harmless but agreeable “partner” which, whilst having its minor issues, is on the whole reliable. Unfortunately, this picture does not correspond with the rapid developments taking place in Brussels.

The track record of the collective West in regard to human rights and international law

by Alfred de Zayas,* Geneva

(15 May 2026) A detached observer who wants to assess where countries stand on fundamental issues of human rights, international law, peace, development and multilateralism need only look at the voting record of States at the United Nations Security Council, General Assembly, Human Rights Council and other international agencies.

The Iran War in the Light of the Nuremberg Principles

by Alfred de Zayas,* Geneva

(3 April 2026) As international law developed over the centuries, the principle of State sovereignty and the prohibition of interference in the internal affairs of other states gradually evolved – from the Peace of Westphalia of 1648 through the Congress of Vienna 1814–15, the establishment of the League of Nations in 1919 and the adoption of the United Nations Charter in 1945 as an incipient world constitution aimed at promoting peace, development and human rights.

The war against Iran is not a “preventive war”, it’s an unprovoked war of aggression

by Alfred de Zayas,* Geneva

(6 March 2026) We are complicit in the US/Israel aggression against Iran if we accept the pretext that this was a “pre-emptive war”. This time the pretext is even weaker than in 2003 with Hussein's alleged “weapons of mass destruction”.

Switzerland–EU

With the new EU agreements, Switzerland is being relegated to the level of developing and emerging countries

by Carl Baudenbacher,* Zurich/Luxembourg

(16 January 2026) The idea of a framework agreement was originally a Swiss invention. The dispute settlement model, on the other hand, is inspired by EU’s agreements with former Soviet republics. The chronicle of a capitulation.