Article 39

The Security Council shall determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression and shall make recommendations, or decide what measures shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace and security.

Article 40

In order to prevent an aggravation of the situation, the Security Council may, before making the recommendations or deciding upon the measures provided for in Article 39, call upon the parties concerned to comply with such provisional measures as it deems necessary or desirable. Such provisional measures shall be without prejudice to the rights, claims, or position of the parties concerned. The Security Council shall duly take account of failure to comply with such provisional measures.

Article 41

The Security Council may decide what measures not involving the use of armed force are to be employed to give effect to its decisions, and it may call upon the Members of the United Nations to apply such measures. These may include complete or partial interruption of economic relations and of rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio, and other means of communication, and the severance of diplomatic relations.

Article 42

Should the Security Council consider that measures provided for in Article 41 would be inadequate or have proved to be inadequate, it may take such action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security. Such action may include demonstrations, blockade, and other operations by air, sea, or land forces of Members of the United Nations.⁷

9. Match the words from Chapter VII of the UN Charter with its synonyms or definitions (B2-C1):

severance (n.)	power, authority
subsidiary (adj.)	interruption
entity (n.)	an article or condition of an agreement
aggravation (n.)	break or violate
jurisdiction (n.)	deterioration, worsening
provision (n.)	complete unit
breach (v.)	supplementary

International Law Enforcement

The international law is enforced primarily by two courts. The International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. Also, a special tribunal to deal with violations of humanitarian law in the former Yugoslavia (The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the ICTY) was established in 1993 by the UN Security Council.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) decides in accordance with the international treaties, conventions, customs, general principles of law and other subsidiary means, as mentioned earlier. It settles disputes between UN member states and gives legal advice and opinions to international organs and agencies. It is seated at The Hague in the Netherlands and it is a judicial organ of the UN.⁸

The international Criminal Court (ICC), unlike the ICJ, deals with individuals, who were accused of acts of genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity. It is an independent international organization, not part of the UN. It is governed by the Rome Statute which came into force in 2002, and it was ratified by 121 countries (as of July 2012). It is also seated in The Hague, Netherlands. The Court does not have the jurisdiction to decide on crimes committed before the court was established.⁹

10. Decide whether the following statements are true or false:

T F

a. The ICJ solves disputes between individuals of the member states.
b. Both the ICJ and the ICC are seated in Strasbourg.
c. The ICC deals with individuals who were accused of committing genocide only.
d. The ICC may decide on crimes committed before the court existed.
e. The ICTY is an abbreviation for a tribunal dealing with the crimes committed in Rwanda.

11. Now try to match the following verbs on the left with the nouns on the right to get collocations used in the international law context. Check your answers in the text.

observe	relationships
govern	disputes
resolve	the rules
abide by	the rules
ratify	human rights
violate	a treaty

12. Now fill in these sentences with suitable verbs. Make sure you use the correct form of the verb. After you finish, compare your answers with your neighbour.

a. Before a treaty comes into force it must be _________________ by all the contracting parties.

b. International law is a tool to __________________ conflicts between states and/or international institution.

c. If any UN member state _______________ the human rights the Security Council has the right to impose sanctions on such a state.

d. All UN member states must _________________ the rules, which they have agreed on.

e. Public international law __________________ the relationships between states and international institutions and organizations.

13. Word building: Fill in the chart with the other parts of speech:

verb	noun	adjective
	seeker
protect
		criminal
integrate
threaten
	custom
	violation