The Geneva Protocol

by David Hunter Miller

The decision as to whether there has or has not been an offence against the first paragraph;

The decision calling upon the guilty State to remedy the offence;

The decision as to whether there has or has not been refusal to remedy the offence;

Lastly, the decision as to the measures calculated to put an end, as soon as possible, to a situation calculated to threaten the peace of the world.

The original text of Article 7 provided that, in the case of enquiries and investigations, the Council should avail itself of the organisation to be set up by the Conference for the Reduction of Armaments in order to ensure respect for the decisions of that Conference. There is no longer any mention of this organisation, but this omission does not prejudice any decisions which the Conference may be called upon to take regarding the matter. It will be entirely free to set up an organisation, if it judges this necessary, and the Council's right to make use of this body for the enquiries and investigations contemplated will, a fortiori, remain intact.

Article 8.

Article 8 must be considered in relation to Article 2. Article 2 establishes the obligation not to resort to war, while Article 8, giving effect to Article 10 of the Covenant, goes further. The signatories undertake to abstain from any act which might constitute a threat of aggression against any other State. Thus, every act which comes within the scope of this idea of a threat of war—and its scope is sufficiently elastic—constitutes a breach of the Protocol, and therefore a dispute with which the Council is competent to deal.

If, for example, one State alleges that another State is engaged in preparations which are nothing less than a particular form of threat of war (such as any kind of secret mobilisation, concentration of troops, formation of armed bodies with the connivance of the Government, etc.), the Council, having established that there is a case for consideration, will apply the procedure which may be defined as the procedure of preventive measures; it will arrange for suitable enquiries and investigations, and, in the event of any breach of the provisions of paragraph 1 being established, will take the steps described in Article 7, paragraph 4.

3.—SECURITY—SANCTIONS.

Article 11.