Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter : an Instrument of Coercion

Robert Charvin, jurist and specialist in international law, explains his point of view.

“Chapter VII as it is set out by the United Nations Charter allows ‘actions (including military) by the Security Council in the event of threats against the peace’. This deposition isn’t controlled by the General Assembly or by the international community, but exclusively by the great powers. Likewise, it rules out the use of this Chapter against any of the great powers or against their protégées, since it is the Security Council itself that makes use of it. All those who hold the power of veto – in other words, the great powers – can be protected against the use of Chapter VII.”

“This Chapter has been used to justify numerous operations, notably by classing internal conflicts as threats to international peace. In other words, thanks to Chapter VII, the great powers have been able to reclassify national conflicts as international conflicts. Which has opened the door to a whole series of meddling : Liberia, Afghanistan, and Haiti... ”

And, as far as Lebanon is concerned, “This isn’t the first time that the creation of an international tribunal has been envisaged. These are ad hoc courts, set up for the occasion, the preferred weapons of the great powers since the objective is fixed, there’s no risk of things getting out of hand, and everything is under control. That’s the worst thing from the point of view of justice being done. Generally, all these ad hoc tribunals are adapted to the political ends of the great powers.”

“We could wish that a matter such as the Hariri assassination would go before the International Criminal Court, which is a permanent court of justice, and rather better organized than the ad hoc tribunals. But Lebanon, just like the United States, has never ratified it."

"The tribunal that’s about to be created is an instrument of a policy, which will not allow the truth to emerge and is certainly far more complex than the one that is continually being proposed for Syria. It will be so tightly controlled that it will be totally incapable of leading to anything except for a sentence that will serve as ammunition to the United States’ Lebanese allies against all their opponents.”