revistaieee7

Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies Núm. 7 / 2016
the severance of diplomatic relations’. 14
At the same time, Article 42 permits the Security Council to resort to military intervention
if it deems that the aforementioned measures have not been adequate: the
Charter provides that the Council ‘may take such action by air, sea, or land forces as
may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security. ‘Such action
may include demonstrations, blockade, and other operations by air, sea, or land forces
of Members of the United Nations’. 15
On the other hand, the Charter of the United Nations affords the Security Council
the mandate of regulating questions relating to disarmament and the non-proliferation
of weapons of mass destruction. With the objective of promoting international
peace and security and the non-proliferation of such weapons, Article 26 of the Charter
decrees that the Council ‘shall be responsible for formulating, with the assistance
of the Military Staff Committee referred to in Article 47, plans to be submitted to the
Members of the United Nations for the establishment of a system for the regulation
of armaments’.
Article 47 confirms this, incorporating disarmament as one of the missions of the
Security Council, as it stipulates that ‘There shall be established a Military Staff Committee
to advise and assist the Security Council on all questions relating to the Security
Council’s military requirements for the maintenance of international peace and
security, the employment and command of forces placed at its disposal, the regulation
of armaments, and possible disarmament’. 16
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: a discriminatory legal basis
On the other hand, the competences of the peace-keeping body relating to nuclear
disarmament and non-proliferation are not only based on the provisions of the Charter
of the United Nations, since these are also underpinned by the rules of international
law, both under conventional and customary international law. In this regard, the
NPT –considered to be the most universal agreement in this field– makes reference in
its preamble to the Charter of the United Nations, establishing the following:
‘Recalling that, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, States must
refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial
integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent
with the Purposes of the United Nations, and that the establishment and
maintenance of international peace and security are to be promoted with the least
diversion for armaments of the world’s human and economic resources’.
14 Article 41 of the Charter.
15 Article 42 of the Charter.
16 Article 47.1 of the Charter of the United Nations.
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