London, Mar 31: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw rules out possibility of changing U.N. Charter to authorise pre-emptive military action. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday (March 30) there was not the "remotest chance" of changing the United Nations (U.N.) Charter to authorise pre-emptive military action against rogue states like Iraq. Instead, he argued, that the "understanding" of existing international law would have to develop to reflect the "new realities" following the September 11 attacks in the United States. Giving evidence to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Straw disclosed that, "having thought about this a great deal", ministers had concluded that it would not be possible to amend the U.N. Charter. "The issue is 'could you do this by amendment to the U.N. charter?' The answer in practice to that is no, there is not the remotest chance of securing an amendment to the U.N. charter," he said.


Britain and its allies instead needed to make the "intellectual argument", through the development of case law, to ensure that it was was possible to take action to deal with emerging threats.


"There is a need for jurisprudence in the international community, where it is appropriate to take military action, to develop to take account of the new realities which were not there when the charter was agreed in 1945," he said.


Bureau Report