The Geneva Protocol — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
The Geneva Protocol
John Stuart Mill · en
Furthermore, paragraph 1 of Article 11 of the Protocol says that the
"obligations * * * in regard to the sanctions of all kinds mentioned"
not only in paragraph 1 but also in paragraph 2 of Article 16 of the
Covenant "will immediately become operative." This indicates that
there are military, naval and air sanctions to be employed and that the
parties to the Protocol are under obligations to employ them.
Now, it is no answer to this to say that as to the _extent_ of the
armed forces to be used, the signatory State has its own discretion;
and it is true that there would be no international command, there
would be no turning over of the forces of one country to the General
Staff of another or to an international Staff of all; however, even
that did not take place during the first three years of the World War,
except with specific detachments. So, for example, the British could
say that they would send five destroyers or ten cruisers under their
own Admiral, or the Grand Fleet if they chose; but clearly it would be
bad faith for them to say with this commitment that they would not send
even a gunboat.
I am entirely satisfied that these provisions greatly extend the
provisions of the Covenant; for the first time[6] there is {79}
introduced in the League system a definite military
commitment--definite in the sense that it is obligatory, and not in the
sense that it is defined as to extent of force.[7]
It may be argued that the first paragraph of Article 13 of the Protocol
looks somewhat the other way, but I do not think that it does. That
paragraph merely provides that the parties to the Protocol, if they see
fit, may give to the Council "undertakings"[8] as to the military
forces which they would use in applying the sanctions of the document.
There is no obligation to give any such undertaking; it is purely
optional with each State. Doubtless if such an undertaking was given
and accepted by the Council, the State giving it would at least not
have to do anything more in the way of military action than provided in
the undertaking; but as the giving of the undertaking is optional, the
fact of its not having been given would not, in my opinion, limit or
qualify the obligation "interpreted" in the second paragraph of Article
11 of the Protocol.
I point out here that the word "contingent" in the first paragraph of
Article 13 of the Protocol does not relate to the obligatory character
of the sanctions but to the necessary uncertainty as to the future
existence of the breach required for their applicability (see the
French text); and the debate in the Third Committee and more
particularly the Report unanimously adopted by the Assembly, in its
discussion of Article 11,[9] make it clear that the above
interpretation as to the military sanctions is correct; uniform in
obligation, they are flexible in application.