An Evaluation of the Right to Collective Self Defense in Contemporary International Law

Article 51 of the Charter allows not only individual, but also collective self- defense. The latter is not, as the wording might suggest, restricted to a common, co-ordinated exercise of the right to individual self-defense by a number of states. That restrictive kind of interpretation of the right of collective self-defense neither corresponds to the history of Art. 51 nor to state practice since 1945. Furthermore, that view of collective self-defense diminishes the effectiveness of the prohibition of the use of force, since, given the failure of the UN system of collective security, it leaves weaker states unprotected and at the mercy of militarily superior states. This article has concluded that the right to collective self-defense authorizes a non-attacked state to lend its assistance to the attacked state. It is not required for the exercise of the right of collective self-defense that the state invoking the right be under an obligation resulting from a treaty of assistance. Rather, it is sufficient, but also necessary, that the support be given with the consent of the attacked state.