The authoress presents the issue of international ethics or morality as one of the few normative systems that regulate international relations (inter alia next to international law or political norms). The article begins with the description of levels at which ethics in international relations is present - the level of individuals, of states, of international community). The authoress attempts to compare international law and ethics and points to differences between those two normative systems and manners of distinguishing legal norms from moral ones. The emphasis is laid on the idiosyncrasy of morality (ethics). Finally she analyses the reasons for growing importance of the ethics as well as the obstacles in that process.