THE ATLANTIC PACT AND THE UN CHARTER

...Switzerland, and the United States...

...The light" of collective self-defense i -l.dilc-hed bv the ('baiter is net trans11 i on 'I by the Ti eat \ into a true < ibl i gut i :i i ( i ollec tive ^il -defense...

...To assert—as does the Soviet White Paper that the North Atlantic Pact is undermining the UN, amounts to mistaking the effect for the cause...

...Regional organizations may be based on common interests other than those which result from the fact that states are neighbors...

...in is established by a general rule if an authority is established - different ,:ml independent lioni the subject of the obligation—which is competent to 'icicle whether in a concrete case the i i rulition is present under which the obligation is to be fulfilled Article 5 of the Tieaty pi ovules that the parties shall take action if an aimed attack occurs...

...and (2) on the interpretation of the ti rm 'armed attack...

...2. The parties will "consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the parties is threatened" (Article A...

...But it is not the intent of the Charter to sanction a third world war...

...A Legal Viewpoint: The ATLANTIC PACT and the UN CHARTER By Hans Kelsen THE CHARTER of the United Nations authorizes member states to enter into regional arrangements dealing with such matters relating to the maintenance of international peace as are appropriate for regional action, provided that such arrangements are consistent with the purposes and principles of the United Nations (Article 52...

...The most important obligation is: to i.ssist the victim of armed attack by taking action including the use of armed force...

...Since1 neither the UN Charter nor the Atlantic Tieaty defines this concept, the interpretation is within the discreion of the governments which are willing to exercise the right—or fulfill the "obligation"—of collective self-defense...

...the state against which their action is directed is also competent to make this decision...

...allows the assumption that the U.S.A...

...The right of collective selfdefense is recognized only as a prortsioncil emergency measure to All the inevitable gap between occurrence of an armed attack and collective security action by the UN...

...In that event, the question as to \c filch state or states are exercizing the nght of self defense, and which are guilty of illegal attack, will remain undecided until the Security Council intervenes under Article 51...

...The North Atlantic Security Treaty signed at Washington in April is in complete conformity with Articles 51 and 52 of the Charter...

...The state against which Article 51 of the Charter, and the Atlantic Treaty, are applied, might declare the action involved to be, not legitimate selfdefense, but an illegal attack...

...Secretary cf State at the 82nd meeting of the UN General Assembly, September 17, 1947...

...But it is very probable that this state will deny it is guilty of conducting an armed attack, and will probably interpret the term differently from its opponent or opponents...

...Germany, Czechoslovakia...

...That regrettable act was accomplished before the North Atlantic Pact came into being, by misuse of the veto right...

...Under the Atlantic Treaty the...

...The UN Charter does not establish such an obligation...

...But this right can be exercised only "until the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to maintain international peace and security...

...in which case it might consider itself to be entitled to exercise the right of selfdefense under the Charter...

...United States may consider resorting to war only if Congress is ready to declare war Article 11 expressly states that its provisions shall be carried out in accordance irith the respective constitutional processes of tlic parties...

...For the regional character of an organization is not determined only by geographical propinquity...

...Establishment of the Council and the defense committee does not imply new obligations, since the Council has only the power to "consider," and the defense committee only to make recommendations, which are not necessarily binding upon the parties...

...Hence, an i bligation in the specific sense of the it...

...But the provisions of Article 5 of the Treaty, though formulated in terms of obligation, can hardly be interpreted as establishing a true obligation—that is, a legal obligation in the strict sense of the term...

...Its fulfillment is left to the discretion of the parties involved...

...It is a regional arrangement for the purpose of implementing the provisions of the Charter concerning individual and collective self-defense...

...But it leaves it to each party to decide whether, in a given instance, an armed attack actually has occurred...

...military contribution to her allies actually will be...

...A STATE WHICH CONSIDERS itself to be attacked, and these Mates which come to its assistance, are not the only ones competent to decide whether, under the JJN Charter, an armed attack has occurred...

...But its voting procedure renders such a decision practically impossible, Hehce there may be a war between two states, or two groups of states, all acting under regional security agreements, without it ever being possible to decide objectively which is the legal aggressor unci which the legal defender...

...If a person is obligated to do only what hk wants to do, he is not under a true obligation...

...There is nothing left of the UN to be undermined...

...will maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack" (Article 3...

...indeed Interpreted these facts as an armed attack within the meaning cf Article 51 of the Charter...

...Article 5 provides further that a party, if it is of the opinion that an armed attack has occurred, shall take such Bction as it "deems necessary...

...In case if aimed attack against one of the contacting parties, the legal situation under the Treaty is not essentially diffc-M nt from that under the Chai ter...

...They may consider a state to be guilty of armed attack not only if that state it sorts to open war against another state, but also if it intervenes (directly '.r indirectly) in a civil war within another state, or instigates or supports a revolutionary movement against the legitimate government of another state...

...They may be based on a common interest in collective self-defense, a "regional" right so obvious that it needs no justification...

...For this no other country is more responsible than the Soviet Union...

...That the contracting parties to the Treaty belong to two different continents, is not incompatible with the Charter, as the Soviet Union contends in a White Paper on the Atlantic Pact...

...The author of many books on jurisprudence and political science, he has taught those subjects for almost forty years in Austria...

...The Charter recognizes the right of each member state to assist the attacked state in its self-defense...

...Hans Kelsen is one of the world's' foremost authorities on international law...

...4. A Council shall be established "to consider" matters concerning the implementation of the Treaty, which Council shall set up especially a defense committee, competent to "recommend measures for the implementation of Articles 3 and 5" (Article 9...

...It only authorizes members to assist the attacked member...

...Before taking the necessary measures to restore peace the Security Council must decide, under Article 39 of the Charter, whether an armed attack has occurred and which state is responsible for it...

...The essential provisions of the Treaty are: 1. The parties to the Treaty, by means of self-help and mutual aid...

...Thus, for instance, the facts established by the Security Council's Greek Investigation Commission—that Yugoslavia, Albania and Bulgaria supported guerrilla forces fighting against the Greek government—may be interpreted as constituting an armed attack...

...THE TREATY'S IMPORTANCE does net be in its legal but in its political ..-I (its And its politic ;il nnpoi tancr ¦U pc nds on (1) the extent to which the obligation of Article 3 to develop by mutual aid the capacity to resist armed attack will be fulfilled and, in particular: how effective the U.S.A...

...Other UN members might come to its assistance and justify their action as collective sell defense, either on the basis of Article 51 of the Charter, or in conI¦ ii nuty with another security treaty corn hided by them in exactly the same teims as the North Atlantic Security Treaty...

...3. If an armed attack occurs, each party "will assist the party or parties so attacked by taking forthwith individually and in concert with the other parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force'* (Arlicla S...

...A real obligation can be said to exist only if a person is bound to act in a definite way even if he does not want to do so...

...According to the demonstrable intent of the framers cf the Charter, the meaning of the term "regional arrangements" is wider than that of treaties concluded by neighboring states...

...He is now professor of political science at the University of California...

...AS TO THE OBLIGATIONS imposed upon the contracting parties, the Treaty does not increase very much those established by the Charter...

...Such' a substitute is necessary because the system of collective security for which the United Nations has been created evidently does not work...

...This situation, at any rate, is foreseeable under the terms of Articles 51 and 52 of the Charter...

...If the UN proves unable to act, and collective security is replaced by collective self-defense, a security treaty organizing collective self-defense ceases to be an implementation of the Charter—it becomes a substitute for the Charter...

...A statement made by the U.S...

...The first obligation to aid one another to develop the capacity for resisting armed attack—is not specified by the Tieaty...

...This is the "right of individual and collective self-defense" against armed attack stipulated in Article 51 of the Charter...