Faculteit Rechtsgeleerdheid Universiteit Gent Academiejaar 2011-12 Han Shot First: Anticipatory Self-defense in International Law Masterproef van de opleiding ‘Master in de rechten’ Ingediend door Sam Van den Bosch (studentennr. 00600299) (major: Nationaal en Internationaal Publiekrecht) Promotor: Prof. dr. Eduard Somers Commissaris: ………….. Anticipatory Self-defense in International Law Introduction..........................................................................................................................................1 Goals................................................................................................................................................1 Methods and structure......................................................................................................................1 Conclusions......................................................................................................................................3 1 Notes on Language...........................................................................................................................4 1.1 Situating anticipatory self-defense............................................................................................4 1.2 Defining anticipatory Self-Defense..........................................................................................8 2 The Great Debate............................................................................................................................11 2.1 Overview.................................................................................................................................11 2.2 The restrictionists....................................................................................................................14 2.2.1 The Charter and the customary international law on self-defense..................................15 2.2.2 Customary international law and anticipatory self-defense............................................18 2.2.3 Subsidiary criticisms of restrictionism............................................................................19 2.3 The abolitionists......................................................................................................................23 2.3.1 Weakness of the two-tiered UN Charter-system.............................................................23 2.3.2 Post War Practice as a substitute for or amendment to the UN Charter-system.............25 2.3.3 Selected cases of state practice.......................................................................................25 2.3.4 Assessment of the abolitionist school.............................................................................27 2.4 The counter-restrictionists......................................................................................................28 3 Historical Evolution of the Right of Self-defense and Anticipatory Self-defense.........................30 3.1 Historical Development of the ius ad bellum prior to the First World War............................30 3.1.1 Stage 1: Romans..............................................................................................................30 3.1.2 Stage 2: Christian Theology and secularisation of the bellum justum...........................32 3.1.3 Stage 3: Post-Westphalian freedom to war and Caroline................................................34 3.2 The Caroline Incident.............................................................................................................36 3.2.1 Importance......................................................................................................................36 3.2.2 Historical events..............................................................................................................37 3.3 Self-defense in the interwar-period.........................................................................................41 3.3.1 The League of Nations....................................................................................................42 The Covenant of the League of Nations – the Treaty of the Gaps.......................................43 The Covenant and Self-defense............................................................................................45 3.3.2 The Kellogg-Briand Pact.................................................................................................46 Reservations, War and Self-defense.....................................................................................48 i State-practice and the judgments at Nuremberg...................................................................51 Nuremberg and Tokyo..........................................................................................................53 3.4 The Charter of the United Nations..........................................................................................56 3.5 Conclusion on the Existence of a Right of Anticipatory Self-defense at the adoption of the Charter of the United Nations........................................................................................................60 4 Dimensions of Anticipatory Self-defense ......................................................................................62 4.1 Use of force and armed attack: ..............................................................................................64 4.1.1 The Nicaragua-case.........................................................................................................64 4.1.2 Cyber-attacks as armed attacks.......................................................................................66 4.2 Imminence, necessity and proportionality..............................................................................68 4.2.1 Necessity.........................................................................................................................68 4.2.2 Proportionality................................................................................................................69 4.2.3 Imminence.......................................................................................................................71 4.2.4 Immediacy.......................................................................................................................72 5 Anticipatory self-defense and non-state actors...............................................................................73 5.1 State responsibility and territorial sovereignty.......................................................................75 5.1.1 State responsibility..........................................................................................................75 Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo-case..........................................................75 5.1.2 Territorial sovereignty.....................................................................................................78 5.2 Self-defense vis-à-vis non-state actors...................................................................................81 5.2.1 Imminence, necessity and proportionality and non-state actors.....................................83 5.2.2 How to apply the law......................................................................................................85 5.3 Application of the law to the reported conduct of drone-warfare...........................................87 5.3.1 What “drones” are, what they are not, and why they are used........................................87 5.3.2 The use of drones in the war on terror............................................................................87 6 Self-defense and Weapons of Mass-destruction.............................................................................91 6.1 First Report of the Atomic Energy Commission.....................................................................93 6.2 2002 National Security Strategy.............................................................................................94 6.3 2003 Gulf War.......................................................................................................................100 6.4 Israeli counter-proliferation operations in 1981, 2007 and possible action against Iran......109 6.4.1 1981: Iraq......................................................................................................................109 6.4.2 2007: Syria....................................................................................................................112 6.4.3 TBD: Iran......................................................................................................................114 Current legal regime...........................................................................................................114 An existential threat............................................................................................................115 Nuclear balance..................................................................................................................117 ii The window of opportunity before the zone of immunity.................................................120 Conclusion........................................................................................................................................122 Bibliography.....................................................................................................................................125 Treaties.........................................................................................................................................125