Soldier operating Black Hornet Nano UAV Helicopter in Afghanistan. Defence Images/Flickr. Some rights reserved.At the start of this year, the UK Attorney General, Jeremy Wright QC, outlined how the UK Government understood its legal right to self-defence against non-state groups in a speech at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. The speech garnered some initial interest but this soon petered out, leaving little discussions of its profound implications. This same pattern of interest was repeated a few months later when the Australian government adopted the same definition.
However, importantly, Wright presented a much more expansive definition of an “imminent threat” a key criterion in assessing whether or not a state can legally use force in self-defence.
Under traditional definitions, an imminent threat is one that is “instant, overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, and no moment of deliberation” (otherwise known as the Caroline test). However, Wright argues that the threat of terrorism has “irretrievably altered” the “frontline” of war and that, in light of these threats, the UK Government must adopt a broader definition to make sure the “law is keeping up”.
