Multilateralism / Comment
The Legitimate preventive defence in the report by the High Level Panel
10/02/2005 By Santiago Ripol Carulla
The legitimate preventive defence can be defined as the armed force used by a State against another State if the former considers there will be an imminent attack by the latter. Force is used before the attack is launched and its objective is to prevent it from occurring.
The concept of legitimate preventive defence has been occasionally used by the States as an argument to justify the use of armed force.
The lawfulness of these actions has been defended based on the fact that Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations – "Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed-attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations until the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to maintain international peace and security" – can be interpreted in a sense not strictly literal, so a State could use force, in a preventive way, as legitimate defence, under certain circumstances and under certain conditions, even when there has not been an armed attack against it.
Such interpretation – in addition – expresses a well-established International Law principle.
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Keywords
Multilateralism Security UN War on terrorBio author: Santiago Ripol Carulla
Santiago Ripol Carulla is Professor of International Public Law at the Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona) and Lawyer at the Constitutional Tribunal.
