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Judges' Ruling Rewrites UN Charter on Self-Defense

(The Australian) Leanne Piggott - The advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice has implications far beyond the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Buried in the text of its opinion is a bombshell that radically rewrites the rules of international law governing the inherent right of states to defend themselves and their citizens. The ICJ says this right is limited to self-defense in the case of armed attack "by one state against another state," although that limitation does not appear anywhere in the text of Article 51 itself. Article 51 recognizes that states have an inherent right of self-defense "if an armed attack occurs." It does not say that the armed attack must have been carried out by, or be attributable to, another state. The ICJ is now saying that if terrorists based in the territory of state A attack state B without the passive or active support of state A, state B may not have the right to defend itself from future attack by striking back at the terrorist base - despite Article 51. The writer is a lecturer in Middle East politics at the University of Sydney.
2004-07-13 00:00:00
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