ABSTRACT
Cohn asserts that it is time to rekindle the right to peace inherent in the very fabric of the United Nations Charter. Through the Charter and subsequent U.N. resolutions, the human right to peace is ripening into a norm of international law. The right to peace has not become a reality because the only international forum for peacekeeping is failing to live by its stated principles. John Bolton, Bush’s temporary U.N. ambassador, infamously declared “When the United States leads, the United Nations will follow. When it suits our interest to do so, we will do so.” Nikki Haley, the Trump administration’s U.N. ambassador, thwarted a U.N. report concluding that Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians constitutes “the crime of Apartheid.” The U.S. government resists accountability for its violations by refusing to ratify the Rome Statute, which provides for prosecution of individual leaders for war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, and eventually, the crime of aggression. Peace is not simply the absence of war. Humanity must work toward nuclear disarmament in accordance with legal obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It is critical to educate people about legal obligations, instilling the notion in the public imagination that peace is possible.
