En av de främsta folkrättsexperterna sir Ian Brownlie avled för tio år sedan i Kairo. Hans bok International Law and the Use of Force by States från 1963 är något av det bästa som skrivits i ämnet.
Samtidigt fyller FN-stadgan 75 år idag. Brownlie lyfter i en annnan bok fram denna stadgas betydelse:
”The design of the United Nations constitutes a comprehensive public order system. In spite of the weakness involved in multilateral decision-making, the assumption is that the Organization has a monopoly on the use of force, and a primary responsibility for enforcement action to deal with breaches of the peace, threats to the peace or acts of aggression. Individual Member States have the exceptional right of individual or collective self-defence. In the case of regional organizations the power of enforcement action is in certain conditions delegated by the Security Council to the organizations concerned. Enforcement action may involve the use of force on behalf of the community against a State. However, the practice has evolved of authorizing peacekeeping operations which are contingent upon the consent of the State whose territory is the site of the operations. In recent history the roles of peacekeeping and enforcement action have on occasion become confused, with unfortunate results.” Ian Brownlie, Principles of Public lnternational Law (Oxford University Press 2003), s. 706.
Efter Brownlies bortgång har professor Olivier Corten fyllt hans tomrum genom bland annat boken The Law Against War. The Prohibition on the Use of Force in Contemporary International Law (Hart Publishing 2012). Även i boken Lagen mot krig lyfts FN-stadgan fram som mycket betydelsefull.
Så det finns anledning att fira denna stadga idag, som sedan 1945 har hindrat krig mellan stormakterna.
Läs även artiklar om FN-stadgan av Rolf Andersson: Om FN-stadgan och FN och FN har brett och starkt stöd!