On This Day: NATO treaty signed in Washington, D.C., led by the United States - Apr. 4, 1949

[jgo]

(edited from Wikipedia)
"
The North Atlantic Treaty is the treaty that forms the legal basis of, and is implemented by, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949.

Background

The treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949 by a committee which was chaired by US diplomat Theodore Achilles. According to Achilles, another important author of the treaty was [Jack] Hickerson:

More than any human being Jack was responsible for the nature, content, and form of the Treaty...It was a one-man Hickerson treaty.

As a fundamental component of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty is a product of the US' desire to avoid overextension at the end of World War II, and consequently pursue multilateralism in Europe. It is part of the US' collective defense arrangement with Western European powers, following a long and deliberative process. The treaty was created with an armed attack by the Soviet Union against Western Europe in mind, although the mutual self-defense clause was never invoked during the Cold War.

By signing the North Atlantic Treaty, parties are "determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilization of the peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law."

NATO member states

The following twelve states signed the treaty and thus became the founding members of NATO on 4 April 1949:
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, United States

The following four states joined the treaty after the 12 founding states, but before the dissolution of the Soviet Union:
Greece, Turkey, West Germany, Spain

The following 16 states joined the treaty after the dissolution of the Soviet Union:
Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Finland, Sweden

Withdrawal

No state has rescinded its membership but some dependencies of member states have not requested membership after becoming independent:
Cyprus, Algeria, Malta

Articles

Article 1

Article 1 of the treaty states that member parties "settle any international disputes in which they may be involved by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered, and to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations."

Members seek to promote stability and well-being in the North Atlantic area through preservation of peace and security in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.

Article 2

Article 2 of the treaty stipulates that "The Parties will contribute toward the further development of peaceful and friendly international relations by strengthening their free institutions, by bringing about a better understanding of the principles upon which these institutions are founded, and by promoting conditions of stability and well-being. They will seek to eliminate conflict in their international economic policies and will encourage economic collaboration between any or all of them." This is sometimes referred to as the Canada Clause after Pearson pushed for its inclusion in the treaty. This included proposals for a trade council, cultural program, technological sharing, and an information program. Of those, only the latter two were passed. Nonetheless, it has been brought up by observers commenting on trade disputes between members.

Article 3

Article 3 of the treaty states that "In order more effectively to achieve the objectives of this Treaty, the Parties, separately and jointly, by means of continuous and effective self-help and mutual aid, will maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack."

Recently, this has been interpreted as the basis for the target for a 2% GDP expenditure rule, which was established as a loose guideline in 2006. This metric was confirmed again during the 2014 Wales summit. Per NATO documents, this has been understood to include seven key areas:

Continuity of government during a crisis
Energy and power grid infrastructure resilience
Immigration control
Food and water security
Medical emergencies
Resilient civil communications
Effective transportation networks

Article 4

Article 4 is generally considered the starting point for major NATO operations, and therefore is intended for either emergencies or situations of urgency. It officially calls for consultation over military matters when "the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the parties is threatened." Upon its invocation, the issue is discussed in the North Atlantic Council, and can formally lead into a joint decision or action (logistic, military, or otherwise) on behalf of the Alliance. It has been officially invoked seven times since the alliance's creation.

Article 5

The key section of the treaty is Article 5. Its commitment clause defines the casus foederis. It commits each member state to consider an armed attack against one member state, in the areas defined by Article 6, to be an armed attack against them all. Upon such attack, each member state is to assist by taking "such action as [the member state] deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area." The article has only been invoked once, but considered in a number of other cases.

Article 6

Article 6 states that Article 5 covers only member states' territories in Europe, North America, Turkey, and islands in the Atlantic north of the Tropic of Cancer.

It was the opinion in August 1965 of the US State Department, the US Defense Department, and the legal division of NATO that an attack on the U.S. state of Hawaii would not trigger the treaty, but an attack on the other 49 would.

This is also why events such as the Balyun airstrikes did not trigger Article 5, as the Turkish troops that were attacked were in Syria, not Turkey.

On 16 April 2003, NATO agreed to take command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, which includes troops from 42 countries. The decision came at the request of Germany and the Netherlands, the two states leading ISAF at the time of the agreement, and all nineteen NATO ambassadors approved it unanimously. The handover of control to NATO took place on 11 August, and marked the first time in NATO's history that it took charge of a mission outside of the area delineated by Article 6.

Articles 7 and 8

In the case of any contradiction with other international obligations (with the exception of the United Nations, which by Article 7 supersedes NATO), or in military conflict of two NATO members, Article 8 comes into force. This is most important in cases should one member engage in military action against another member, upon which the offending members would be held in abeyance of the treaty and thereby NATO protection as a whole. This has not occurred yet, but there have been several militarised disputes between NATO allies that have threatened this:

Article 9

Establishes the North Atlantic Council, and is the only NATO body that derives its authority directly from the treaty. Its primary objectives as stated in the treaty is the enforcement of Article 3 and Article 5.

Article 10

Article 10 dictates the process by which other countries may join NATO, which is by unanimous agreement by current NATO members. Further, new NATO members can only consist of other European nations. In practice, this has turned into a set of action plans which an aspiring nation must follow in order to become a member, including the Membership Action Plan (MAP) mechanism and Intensified Dialogue formula.

Article 11

Article 11 indicated the process of the initial ratification of the treaty.

Article 12

Article 12 states the process by which the treaty may be amended, provided such amendments still affect the North Atlantic area and do not violate the Charter of the United Nations. In practice, this has only been used to clearly delineate which territories are under the purview of NATO.

Article 13

Article 13 delimits the process by which a member leaves NATO, which simply consists of a one-year notice by the member nation to the U.S. government in its role as the treaty depositary, which then promulgates the notice to the other member nations. This has been contemplated by a number of member nations, but so far has not happened aside from withdrawals due to independence of former territories or dependencies (namely, Algeria, Malta, and Cyprus).

Otherwise, the next closest option for a member nation is to instead withdraw from NATO's military command structure, but not from NATO entirely. This happened with France in 1966, which rejoined in 2009; and with Greece in 1974, which rejoined in 1980 after the new Turkish military government ended its objections to Greek re-entry.

Article 14

Article 14 notes the official languages of NATO as English and French, and that the United States government shall promulgate copies of the treaty to the other member nations.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Atlantic_Treaty

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