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A legal status assumed unilaterally by a state during a time of war, indicative of its intention of staying out of the war. The status involves rights and duties on the part of both the neutral state and the belligerents (sense 1). The neutral must not, by acts of either commission or omission, assist any belligerent, and must allow the belligerents to treat the commerce of its nationals (sense 2) in accordance with the laws of war. For their part the belligerents must not infringe the neutrality of the neutral state, and must allow it to act towards their nationals in accordance with the laws of war. The practice of neutrality has often been far less clear cut than the rules of neutrality would suggest, for political and/or military reasons. Politically, a neutral may wish to display benevolent neutrality towards one side; and the proximity of a powerful belligerent may also incline a neutral away from a strictly neutral path, so as to stave off the danger of its neutrality being violated. In general, that is perhaps least likely to occur in wars which are limited in both scope and aim. However, the first half of the twentieth century was marked by total war, and in its second half the UN Charter posed a potential question about the relevance of the concept of neutrality – one made pertinent by the Security Council\'s post-Cold War peace enforcement activity. Accordingly, neutrality is now much less heard about than it used to be – although circumstances continue to arise in which states are anxious to keep out of the armed conflicts of others. Neutrality is to be distinguished from neutralism and non-alignment. See also neutral; Non-Aligned Movement; permanent neutrality; perpetual neutrality. |
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