Article 15d.
[Sidenote: Article 10 of the Protocol, with verbal changes.]
Any Member of the League which resorts to war in violation of the undertakings contained in the Covenant is an aggressor. Violation of the rules laid down for a demilitarised zone shall be held equivalent to resort to war.
In the event of hostilities having broken out, any Member of the League shall be presumed to be an aggressor (unless a decision of the Council, which must be taken unanimously, shall otherwise declare) which
(a) has refused to submit the dispute to the procedure of pacific settlement provided by the Covenant, or
(b) has refused to comply with a judicial sentence or arbitral award or with a unanimous recommendation of the Council, or
(c) has disregarded a unanimous report of the Council, a judicial sentence or an arbitral award recognizing that the dispute between it and the other belligerent arises out of a matter which by international law is solely within the domestic jurisdiction of the latter State, and has not previously submitted the question to the Council or the a.s.sembly, in accordance with Article 11, or
(d) has violated provisional measures enjoined by the Council {277} for the period while the proceedings are in progress as contemplated by Article 15b.
Apart from the cases dealt with in sub-heads a, b, c and d of this Article, if the Council does not at once, by unanimous vote, succeed in determining the aggressor, it shall be bound to enjoin upon the belligerents an armistice, and shall fix the terms, acting if need be, by a two-thirds majority and shall supervise its execution.
Any belligerent which refuses to accept the armistice or violates its terms shall be deemed an aggressor.
The Council shall call upon the Members of the League to apply forthwith against the aggressor the sanctions provided by the Covenant, and any Member of the League thus called upon shall thereupon be ent.i.tled to exercise the rights of a belligerent.
[Sidenote: Article 14 of the Protocol.]
The Council shall alone be competent to declare that the application of sanctions shall cease and normal conditions be reestablished.
Article 16.
[Sidenote: This combines Article 16 of the Covenant and Article 11 of the Protocol. It omits much of the pending amendments to Article 16 of the Covenant as superfluous.]
Should any Member of the League resort to war, in disregard of its covenants, it shall _ipso facto_ be deemed to have committed an act of war against all other Members of the League, which hereby undertake immediately to subject it to the severance of all trade or financial relations and to prohibit all intercourse, at least between persons resident within their territories and persons resident within the territory of the covenant-breaking State, and, if they deem it expedient, also between their nationals and the nationals of the covenant-breaking State, and to prevent all financial, commercial or personal intercourse at least between persons resident within the territory of that State and persons resident within the territory of every other State, and, if they deem it expedient, also between the nationals of that State and the nationals of every other State.
It shall be the duty of the Council in such case to recommend to the several Governments concerned what effective military, naval or air force the Members of the League shall severally contribute to the armed forces to be used to protect the Covenants of the League.
As soon as the Council has called upon the Members of the League to apply sanctions, as provided in Article 15d, the obligations of the Members of the League in regard to the sanctions mentioned in paragraphs one and two of this Article will immediately become operative in order that such sanctions may forthwith be employed against the aggressor.
Those obligations shall be interpreted as obliging each Member of the League to co-operate loyally and effectively in support of the Covenant, and in resistance to any act of aggression, in the degree which its geographical position and its particular situation as regards armaments allow.
The Members of the League agree, further, that they will mutually support one another in the financial and economic measures {278} which are taken under this Article, in order to minimise the loss and inconvenience resulting from the above measures, and that they will mutually support one another in resisting any special measures aimed at one of their number by the covenant-breaking State, and that they will take the necessary steps to afford pa.s.sage through their territory to the forces of any of the Members of the League which are co-operating to protect the covenants of the League.
The Members of the League jointly and severally undertake to come to the a.s.sistance of the State attacked or threatened, and to give each other mutual support by means of facilities and reciprocal exchanges as regards the provision of raw materials and supplies of every kind, openings of credits, transport and transit, and for this purpose to take all measures in their power to preserve the safety of communications by land and by sea of the attacked or threatened State.
If both parties to the dispute when so invited refuse to accept of Article 15d, the economic and financial sanctions shall be applied to both of them.
Any Member of the League which has violated any covenant of the League may be declared to be no longer a Member of the League by a vote of the Council concurred in by the Representatives of all the other Members of the League represented thereon.
Article 16a.
[Sidenote: Article 12 of the Protocol, with slight changes.]
In view of the complexity of the conditions in which the Council may be called upon to exercise the functions mentioned in Article 16 concerning economic and financial sanctions, and in order to determine more exactly the guarantees afforded to the Members of the League, the Council shall from time to time invite the economic and financial organizations of the League to consider and report as to the nature of the steps to be taken to give effect to the financial and economic sanctions and measures of co-operation contemplated in Article 16.
From time to time, the Council shall draw up through its competent organs:
1. Plans of action for the application of the economic and financial sanctions against an aggressor State;
2. Plans of economic and financial co-operation between a State attacked and the different States a.s.sisting it;
and shall communicate these plans to the Members of the League.
Article 16b.
[Sidenote: Article 13 of the Protocol, with slight changes.]
In view of the contingent military, naval and air sanctions provided for by Article 16, the Council shall be ent.i.tled to receive undertakings from Members of the League determining in advance the military, naval and air forces which they would be able to bring into action immediately to ensure the fulfilment of the obligations in regard to sanctions which result from the Covenant.
{279}
Furthermore, as soon as the Council has called upon the Members of the League to apply sanctions, as provided in Article 15d, the said Members of the League may, in accordance with any agreements which they may previously have concluded, bring to the a.s.sistance of a particular State, which is the victim of aggression, their military, naval and air forces.
The agreements mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be registered and published by the Secretariat. They shall remain open to all Members of the League which may desire to accede thereto.
Article 17.
[Sidenote: Article 17 of the Covenant, with verbal changes.]
In the event of a dispute between a Member of the League and a State which is not a Member of the League, or between States not Members of the League, the State or States not Members of the League shall be invited to accept the obligations of membership in the League for the purposes of such dispute, upon such conditions as the Council may deem just. If such invitation is accepted, the provisions of the Covenant shall be applied with such modifications as may be deemed necessary by the Council.
Upon such invitation being given, the Council shall immediately inst.i.tute an inquiry into the circ.u.mstances of the dispute and recommend such action as may seem best and most effectual in the circ.u.mstances.
If a State so invited shall refuse to accept the obligations of membership in the League for the purposes of such dispute and shall resort to war against a Member of the League, the provisions of Article 16 shall be applicable as against the State taking such action.
If both parties to the dispute when so invited refuse to accept the obligations of membership in the League for the purposes of such dispute, the Council may take such measures and make such recommendations as will prevent hostilities and will result in the settlement of the dispute.
Article 17a.
[Sidenote: Article 15 of the Protocol, with verbal changes.]
The Members of the League agree that the whole cost of any military, naval or air operations undertaken for the repression of an aggression under the terms of the Covenant, and reparation for all losses suffered by individuals, whether civilians or combatants, and for all material damage caused by the operations of both sides, shall be borne by the aggressor State up to the extreme limit of its capacity.
Nevertheless, in view of Article 10, neither the territorial integrity nor the political independence of the aggressor State shall in any case be affected as the result of the applications of the sanctions of the Covenant.
Articles 18 to 26, Inclusive.