The Consultative Forum on International Security Policy will discuss a range of issues relating to the global and European security environment and how Ireland's foreign, security and defence policy is responding. In this context, the Forum will also examine the particular challenges facing multilateralism and the United Nations, particularly in the aftermath of Russia’s illegal aggression against Ukraine.
Article 29.3 of the Constitution provides that Ireland accepts the generally recognised principles of international law as its rule of conduct in its relations with other States. Pursuant to Article 21 of the Treaty on European Union, the EU is also committed to ensuring that its actions on the international scene are guided by the principles which have inspired the EU’s own creation, namely democracy, the rule of law, the universality and indivisibility of human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for human dignity, the principles of equality and solidarity, and respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law.
While the concept of the rules-based international order does not have a single universally accepted definition, it is widely understood to refer to the series of international laws, legal principles, rules, norms and institutions which have facilitated and regulated international interactions and multilateral cooperation in the modern era.
It is important to state that the concept of a rules-based international order is intended to refer to the universal body of commitments and obligations that make up the international multilateral system, and which allow countries to cooperate with one another on a vast array of issues including trade, development and sectoral partnership and coordination, and to which all, or the vast majority, of states have subscribed. In that sense, while the UN Charter and international law are an integral part of this, they do not constitute it alone.
This body of international laws, legal principles, rules, norms and institutions has facilitated and regulated Ireland’s peaceful cooperation with other countries for decades, and has and will remain a core component of the country’s foreign and security policy.
