Should Article 43 of the United Nations Charter Be Raised From the Dead?

Abstract

Abstract : By reflex action, the collapse of the Soviet Union has simulated proposals to activate Article 43 of the United Nation Charter, the keystone of the Charter's plan for establishing a standing U.N. military force to prevent and if necessary defeat aggression. In the Charter such actions are called 'enforcement actions,' as distinguished from actions of 'individual or collective self-defense' like the various Arab-Israeli wars in the Middle East, the war in Korea some forty years ago, or the recent war in the Persian Gulf. Under Article 43, enforcement actions would be ordered and directed by the Security Council and its Military Committee. With the possible exception of the Congo War during the 1960s, there have been no enforcement actions conducted by the Security Council. The Charter rule against aggression has so far been enforced-when it has been enforced at all-only by the use of force in self- defense.