The Geneva Protocol

CHAPTER I.. The Protocol of Geneva.

THE PROTOCOL OF GENEVA.

The Covenant of the League of Nations 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 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. 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. 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. The Protocol of Geneva is, however, much more than a proposal. It has the active support of a considerable number of Governments. It was unanimously recommended for acceptance by the Fifth Assembly 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:

"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."

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

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."

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."

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.

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

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

See Report to the Fifth Assembly, Annex C, p. 156, at p. 164. This Report of MM. Benes and Politis is a notable document, worthy of the ability and learning of the two Rapporteurs.

It is herein generally called "the Protocol."

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CHAPTER II.. Points of Approach.

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 document, 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 document; 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 made by the First and Third Committees to the Fifth Assembly 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, or between States coming within the latter category.

It should be added that, as the League realizes its aim of universality, the amended Covenant will take the place, as regards all States, of the separate régime of the Protocol."

Of course, as is pointed out in some detail by Satow (Diplomatic Practice, Second Edition, Vol. II, pages 270 et seq.), the word "protocol" is used with quite a number of different meanings. In the present case the meaning of the word is nothing more nor less than treaty or convention.

It is naturally impossible to consider or discuss the effect of the Protocol of Geneva without constant reference to the text of the Covenant, to which the Protocol refers throughout. It is also necessary to consider to some extent the Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice and even certain of the provisions of the Treaties of Peace, other than the Covenant.

Moreover, as any consideration of the legal situation created by the Protocol must assume that the document has come into force, it will be interesting to sum up the provisions of the Protocol in that regard, particularly as they are somewhat unusual.

The English text of this Report is Annex C, p. 156.

From the theory that the Protocol may properly be signed by non-Members of the League, I dissent. See infra, p. 10., et seq.

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CHAPTER III.. The Coming Into Force of the Protocol.

THE COMING INTO FORCE OF THE PROTOCOL.

The Protocol is dated at Geneva on October 2nd, 1924. It is drawn up in both French and English and the text of both languages is authentic. It is written in a single original. It was recommended to the Members of the League for acceptance by a resolution unanimously passed in the Assembly by the affirmative vote of 48 Members of the League, and it has been signed by the representatives of various countries.

This recommendation by the Assembly, however, and these signatures, do not, as to any signatories, bring into force the Protocol, which, by its terms, must be ratified, the ratifications to be deposited at the Secretariat of the League at Geneva.

The first preliminary to the coming into force of the Protocol is its formal ratification by at least 13 Members of the League; and these ratifications must include those of at least three of the four Great Powers which are Members--Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan. But even these ratifications do not bring the Protocol into force. The absence of such ratifications by May 1st, 1925, may result in the postponement of the Disarmament Conference from the date provisionally fixed, June 15th, 1925. But this is a matter which I shall discuss later.

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