The Legitimacy of International Blockades According to the Rules of the International Charter (Yemen and Gaza as Case Studies)

Abstract

Following the establishment of the United Nations Organization after the Second World War and the tragedies left behind by the two world wars, the international collective security system underwent significant development, not only in the number of principal organs created within the organization but also in the set of principles and means included in the organization's charter to maintain international peace and security. These include: the commitment of states to resolve their disputes peacefully and refrain from the use of force or the threat thereof. The establishment of a special organ (the Security Council) tasked with maintaining international peace and security, with some of its decisions being binding (Chapter VII). The linkage between the maintenance of international peace and security and human rights. These characteristics have become the fundamental pillars of the international charter (the United Nations Charter). If the rules of international legitimacy have settled the legitimacy of war through the obligation of states to refrain from the use of force and to resolve their disputes peacefully, they have also placed two restrictions on the legitimacy of war:

First: It must be with the explicit permission of the Security Council, in accordance with Chapter 7 of the Charter. Second: In the case of self-defense as a natural right, in accordance with Article 51.

However, we find that blockades, according to the rules of international legitimacy, have not been explicitly criminalized as a means of warfare, but have become one of the legitimate coercive measures to which the organization resorts in times of peace. This has given rise to a number of jurisprudential and practical issues, amounting to a serious violation of the basic principles contained in international human rights law on the one hand, and further weakening those basic rules and principles in the face of the rules of the international system based on power. This reality has been evident in a number of international conflicts since the establishment of the United Nations Organization, most notably the legal nature and consequences of the international blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip and Yemen.