The Geneva Protocol Part 1

The Geneva Protocol.

by David Hunter Miller.

FOREWORD

The sources and history of the Protocol of Geneva of course go far back of its date, October 2, 1924. I have not attempted to trace them except in so far as they have a direct bearing on my legal study of the Doc.u.ment itself.

The form of the Protocol of Geneva is certainly not yet finally written; consideration of its legal aspects is perhaps therefore all the more desirable at this time.

The Protocol of Geneva is one chapter in the history of the League of Nations, the history of international relations of our time.

D. H. M.

New York City, December, 1924.

The Geneva Protocol

CHAPTER I.

THE PROTOCOL OF GENEVA.

The Covenant of the League of Nations[1] lays down the principle that national armaments should be reduced to the lowest point consistent with national safety and the enforcement by common action of international obligations.

Thus, in the Covenant, the problem of disarmament[2] and the problem of security are viewed as correlative problems. Their study has gone on in the League of Nations since its organization. During this same period there has been widespread and increasing public interest in the matter.

The theory of the Treaties of Peace was that the disarmament of Germany and her allies was preliminary to a general reduction of armaments the world over.[3] Except as the result of the Washington Conference, and by that to only a very limited extent, there has been almost no reduction or limitation of armaments by {2} international agreement since the war.[4] Such lessening of armaments as has taken place has been by voluntary national action.

The study of these questions during the last few years has brought about a much clearer understanding of them, both in the minds of statesmen and generally; and the various proposals that have been made have been the subject of detailed and elaborate criticism from all sides.

The latest of these proposals is the paper which is called The Protocol of Geneva.[5] The Protocol of Geneva is, however, much more than a proposal. It has the active support of a considerable number of Governments.[6] It was unanimously recommended for acceptance by the Fifth a.s.sembly of the League of Nations. It deserves the serious attention of all thoughtful minds.

The object of the Protocol of Geneva cannot be better stated than in the words of its authors:[7]

"to facilitate the reduction and limitation of armaments provided for in Article 8 of the Covenant of the League of Nations by guaranteeing the security of States through the development of methods for the pacific settlement of all international disputes and the effective condemnation of aggressive war."

While this Protocol is, and doubtless always will be, called "The Protocol of Geneva," its official name is "Protocol for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes."[8]

[1] Article 8. The text of the Covenant is Annex A, p. 117.

[2] Those who criticize the use of the word "disarmament" as meaning a reduction or limitation of armaments, should consult the dictionaries.

The Standard Dictionary gives the following definition:

"The act of disarming; especially, the reduction of a military or naval establishment to a peace footing."

The Century Dictionary gives this:

"The act of disarming; the reduction of military and naval forces from a war to a peace footing; as 'a general disarmament is much to be desired.'"

The Century Dictionary also gives the following quotation as an instance from Lowe's Life of Bismarck:

"He (Napoleon) in a fit of irresolution broached in Berlin the question of mutual disarmament."

[3] See, for example, the preamble to the Military, Naval and Air Clauses of the Treaty of Versailles: "In order to render possible the initiation of a general limitation of the armaments of all nations, Germany undertakes strictly to observe the military, naval and air clauses which follow."

[4] The Treaty of Lausanne (A. J. I. L., Vol. XVIII, Supp., pp. 58, 64) with its provisions for demilitarized zones, etc., and the Convention for the Limitation of Armaments in Central America of February 7, 1923 (A. J. I. L., Vol. XVII, Supp. 1923, pp. 114, _et seq._), are to be noted in this regard.

[5] For the text in French and English, see Annex B, p. 132.

[6] Sixteen States have signed the Protocol and it has been ratified by Czechoslovakia.

[7] See Report to the Fifth a.s.sembly, Annex C, p. 156, at p. 164. This Report of MM. Benes and Politis is a notable doc.u.ment, worthy of the ability and learning of the two Rapporteurs.

[8] It is herein generally called "the Protocol."

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CHAPTER II.

POINTS OF APPROACH.

There are various possible points of approach to the consideration of the Protocol of Geneva. In view of the importance of the doc.u.ment, doubtless all such methods are useful. Indeed, in the discussion of such a paper, it is perhaps hardly possible exclusively to adopt only one angle of view, such as the historical, the political, etc. My own consideration of the paper, however, is to be primarily from the legal viewpoint; without attempting wholly to avoid other points of view I shall seek not to stress them.

The Protocol is an elaborate and technical international doc.u.ment; and even in attempting to consider it primarily from the legal viewpoint there are various methods or arrangements of such a discussion. The general starting point which seems to me to be most desirable is that of the legal effect of the Protocol upon the international relations of the States which become parties to it, both as among themselves and as to States not parties.

It will of course in this connection be necessary to consider the obligations fixed by the Protocol in the event of its breach, as well as those which are imposed by its acceptance and performance. These latter may, however, very properly be first considered.

Accordingly, the first discussion will relate to the obligations of the States which become parties to the Protocol as among themselves, particularly in connection with the due performance of these obligations by those parties.

Before coming to this first discussion, however, there are certain general observations which may be made.

In the first place the paper is called a Protocol. The precise reason for the use of this term does not appear; but it is probably due to the fact that the Protocol of Geneva is in a sense supplementary to other international agreements such as the Covenant of the League of Nations and the Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice; and perhaps because the {4} Protocol is intended to be preliminary to amendments to the Covenant (Article I, paragraph 1, of the Protocol).

Allusion is made to this provisional character of the Protocol of Geneva in the Report[1] made by the First and Third Committees to the Fifth a.s.sembly of the League of Nations, where it is said:

"When the Covenant has been amended in this way some parts of the Protocol will lose their value as between the said States: some of them will have enriched the Covenant, while others, being temporary in character, will have lost their object.

The whole Protocol will remain applicable to relations between signatory States which are Members of the League of Nations and signatory States outside the League,[2] or between States coming within the latter category.