La légalité des opérations de l'Alliance Atlantique

Docs en anglais | 15 pages | 02-10-2006 | Format : | Note : Non noté |

Résumé

Cette étude, qui est rédigée en anglais, porte sur la légalité du développement des activités et opérations de l'Alliance Atlantique en dehors des cas d'attaque d'un membre de l'Alliance. Le développement de ces opérations est examiné à la lumière des règles internes à l'OTAN ainsi qu'à l'aube de la Charte des Nations Unies.

Extract:

NATO currently contends that it can take non-article 5 operations out of its area, and that its decisions are not subjected to a Russian, or presumably, Chinese veto. Evaluate the legality of these claims.
The end of the Cold War has led NATO to redefine its role. Initially conceived as a defence alliance, NATO has adopted, through a modification of its strategic concept, a broader conception of its functions. Those modifications have led NATO to carry out what has been known as “out of area” or “non-article 5” operations. It is the legality of those actions that will be examined in the present essay. A two-step approach will be followed. Firstly, it will be examined whether those actions are legal under the organisation's instrument and its eventual modifications. Secondly, it will be considered whether those actions are compatible with the United Nations Charter and whether NATO may act without the Security Council's authorisation. It will be contended that “non-article 5 operations” are legal under the NATO treaty but that some of them require Security Council's approval in order to be legally carried out.
I. Non-article 5 operations
Following the end of the Cold war, the main threat facing NATO disappeared. NATO members, however, did not consider the Alliance as being obsolete. Even though they recognised that a direct attack from the former eastern block was very unlikely, they could not exclude that such a threat might reappear in the future. Moreover, they recognised that NATO members where facing new risks, such as ethnic violence and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The London Declaration of July 1990 recognised the need for adapting the Alliance to these new threats. The Heads of State and Government agreed upon NATO's new strategic concept in the meeting of the North Atlantic Council held in Rome in November 1991. It was later modified at the North Atlantic Council in Washington D.C. in April 1999. The idea behind those changes was to enhance the political dimension of NATO. Both documents identified the new risks facing the Alliance, emphasising their “multi-faceted” and “multi-directional” nature. However, the two strategic concepts present some fundamental differences, which are worth observing for the present essay. (...)

Sommaire:

Introduction

I) Non-article 5 operations

II) Legality of non-article 5 operations under the NATO treaty

A. Interpretation of the NATO treaty
B. Non-article 5 operations as implied powers of the organization
C. Amendment of the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty
D. Conclusion

III) Legality of non-article 5 operations and the UN Charter

Conclusion