§ Mr. Robert BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will set out the terms of the agreement for the forces of NATO to operate outside the areas previously agreed; and what measures are necessary to amend the North Atlantic treaty.
§ Mr. Garel-JonesNATO Foreign Ministers agreed in June and December 1992 that the alliance should support, on a case-by-case basis and in accordance with its own procedures, peacekeeping operations under the auspices of the conference on security and co-operation in Europe or the United Nations. NATO Defence Ministers agreed in December that support for UN and CSCE peacekeeping should be among the missions of NATO forces and headquarters. Copies of the communiqués from all these meetings are in the Library of the House.
There is no need for the North Atlantic treaty to be amended to permit NATO to operate outside its own area in pursuit of these decisions; the treaty obliges members of the alliance to respond to an armed attack on one of them within the North Atlantic area, but it does not prevent NATO members from acting collectively outside the North Atlantic area if they so agree.