The right to preemptive self defense and its status in international Law

ABSTRACTThe basic principle regulating the use of force by States is the Article 2,paragraph 4 of the UN Charter, which is regarded as a jus cogens rule. Theprinciple provides that all UN member States shall refrain from threat or use offorce against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, or inany manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.One of the clear exceptions to this categorical ban on use of force is the useof force for the purpose of self-defense as regulated in Article 51 of the UNCharter. Accordingly, the right to self-defense can be resorted to if an armed attackoccurs.Despite these regulations, there are opinions arguing that there is a right topreemptive self-defense on the basis of various grounds. Some argue that therehad been a right to preemptive self-defense before the UN Charter was established.According to this opinion, the UN Charter does not abolish this already existingright. Some others interpret the wordings of Article 51 so as to cover thepreemptive self-defense. Thirdly, some argue that a right to preemptive self-defensehas emerged on the basis of recent state practice.This study searches for whether a right to preemptive self-defense exists ininternational law by reviewing the grounds of the opinions favoring that allegedright. To do so, the related opinions of the scholars, state practice and theapproach of the UN Security Council to the relevant examples are reviewed.