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* Maziar Jamnejad is a trainee solicitor with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP. This article is written in a personal capacity and the views contained herein are not those of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP. Michael Wood is a Senior Fellow, Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge, and a member of the International Law Commission. This article had its origins in an International Law Discussion Group held at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) on 28 February 2007. The authors thank Elizabeth Wilmshurst for her encouragement and assistance.
On 24 July 1967, President Charles de Gaulle of France concluded a speech in Montreal with the words: 'Vive le Québec! Vive le Québec libre!' Here was the president of the French Republic, in Canada on an official visit, apparently inciting Quebeckers to secede. Canada's federal government described the remarks as 'unacceptable'. The next day de Gaulle left Canada abruptly. Did the president breach international law? In particular, did he violate any rule of non-intervention? It is not clear that Canada claimed that he did. 'Unacceptable' is not necessarily the same as 'unlawful'.
The principle of non-intervention raises much the same issues today. States frequently condemn the acts of other states as intervention in their internal affairs. In August 2007, for example, Sudan expelled the Canadian chargé d'affaires for 'interfering in its affairs'; apparently she had been engaging in 'unacceptable contacts' with opposition leaders. The Canadian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that the chargé 'was standing up for our values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Sudan' (emphasis added). Also in August 2007, in response to a protest when he was reported as saying that the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Al-Maliki, should resign, the French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, said, 'if the Prime Minister wants me to apologize for having interfered directly in Iraqi affairs, I'll do it willingly'. When in October 2007 US President George W. Bush attended the ceremony at which the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, received the Congressional Medal of Honor, the Chinese Foreign Minister said that 'it seriously violates the norm of international relations, and . . . interferes with China's internal affairs'.
The present article considers the existence,...