A Universal System of Collective Security Based on the Charter of the United Nations: A Commentary on Article 2(6) UN Charter

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan A. G. Talmon

1950 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 400-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lincoln Palmer Bloomfield

The United Nations at the time of this writing has emerged from a period of uncertainty engendered by the Soviet boycotts beginning in January 1950, into blazing prominence as a fast-acting agency for suppressing armed aggression. Many of the questions raised during the first four years of its existence concerning its vitality and effectiveness as the center of a collective security system have now been dramatically answered. Its forms have altered with experience, and by analogy to our Constitution, its action in response to the armed invasion of the Republic of Korea constitutes a precedent which may rank with Chief Justice Marshall's most momentous decisions. Whatever new directions the organization and its Charter may take in response to the dynamics of the world society they represent, it is indisputable that this new parlimentary form of conducting international affairs has conclusively proved its worth and its indispensability to the future of the international community.



1948 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 783-796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Kelsen

Collective security is the main purpose of the United Nations, just as it was the main purpose of its predecessor, the League of Nations. What does collective security mean? Under general international law the principle of self-help prevails. The protection of the legal interests of the states against violations on the part of other states is left to the individual state whose right has been violated. General international law authorizes the state, i.e., the individual member of the international community, to resort, in case of a violation of its rights, to reprisals or war against that state which is responsible for the violation. Reprisals and war are enforcement actions. Insofar as they are reactions against violations of the law, and authorized by it, they have the character of sanctions. We speak of collective security when the protection of the rights of the states, the reaction against the violation of the law, assumes the character of a collective enforcement action.



1951 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-190

The General Assembly of the United Nations voted on November 1, 1950 to continue Trygve Lie in the office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for an additional three years and following the vote, Mr. Lie addressed the plenary meeting. He stated that the United Nations could not function effectively unless the Secretariat acted in loyal conformity with the decisions and recommendations of the organs of the United Nations and by the same token the Secretariat must act in the collective interest of the United Nations. He pledged that as Secretary-General he would remain impartial to all countries. He pointed out that the United Nations' road to peace required universal collective security, but that a persistent effort for the reconciliation of conflicting interests plus a strong program for an adequate standard of living throughout the world were also necessary for peace.



1994 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-87
Author(s):  
Iris C. Meijer

United Nations peace-keeping was invented as a creative response to the inability of the United Nations to utilise all the possibilities of the Charter mechanism for collective security. To cover its lack of legal basis, over the years a set of semi-legal conditions was developed for peace-keeping. The recent expansion of peace-keeping operations has caused some changes in these conditions, while some of the current peace-keeping forces have moved so far away from the established format that they cannot even be qualified as true peace-keeping operations any longer. For better or for worse, keeping the peace United Nations style has taken its first irrevocable step towards enforcing it.



2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 241-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alena F. Douhan

The United Nations organization was planned to be established as a single universal system of collective security. Major efforts were supposed to be taken by the UN Security Council. Regional organizations were introduced into the system as a subordinate subsidiary means – elements of the system. Over the course of the time it has, however, appeared that the UN Security Council was not able to act in the way prescribed by the UN Charter in suppressing newly emerged threats and challenges in the sphere of security. In the contrary, the role of regional organizations has increased substantially. They do the majority of tasks in the sphere of maintenance of international peace and security, often without authorization or even informing the UN Security Council, although the legality of some of these actions may be dubious. As a result, the Council itself transfers the accent in relations between the UN and regional organizations from subsidiarity to complementarity or even partnership. It is thus necessary to re-check the meaning of the concepts of complementarity and subsidiarity as well as the UN Charter provisions in the changed circumstances and to specify principles of the new system.



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