The EU response to the Paris terrorist attacks and the reshaping of the rights to self-defence in International Law

• Autores: Carlos Espaliú Berdud
• Localización: SYbIL: Spanish yearbook of international law, ISSN 0928-0634, Nº 20, 2016, págs. 183-207
• Idioma: inglés
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• Dialnet Métricas: 1 Cita
• Resumen

  • After the terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November 2015, French President François Hollande invoked Article 42(7) TEU, requesting bilateral aid and assistance from other EU Member States. In this regard, as it was the case with the terrorist actions of 11 September 2001, one of the most disputed issues was whether the Paris incidents constituted an “armed attack”, requisite to trigger the right of self-defence in light of the wording of Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. After a careful examination, we reached the conclusion that, even if it can be said that, for the time being, the existing rule in international law in both conventional law (Article 51 of the UN Charter) and customary law allowing states to have recourse to the use of force in self-defence can only be legally exercised in the presence of an armed attack committed by a state, it can also be argued that current state practice appears to be heading in another direction. It must be recalled that for the drafters of Article 51 of the UN Charter the right of self-defence was already “inherent”. Had they been in the current situation, perhaps they would have extended this right to include cases of terrorist attacks of great dimensions.