NATO’s Celebrates 75 anniversary of collective defense in Europe & N America

NATO is celebrating 75 years of collective defence across Europe and North America. 

This event will be held in Brussels. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his counterparts will be present at the event and will witness the 75th anniversary of the alliance. 

• Over seven decades, the alliance's ranks have almost tripled from its original 12 founding members. 
• The promise of Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, which has been shipped to Brussels for the ceremony, stipulates that an attack on any one of its members must be met with a united response. This promise has only ever been used once, after the Al-Qaeda attacks on US soil in 2001.
• On the eve of the anniversary, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stressed that NATO was founded on a single, solemn promise: An attack on one ally is an attack on all. Blinken described NATO as a defensive alliance with no territorial ambitions but with a determination to protect the territory of each of its members in a way that has been unique in human history.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)

• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded in 1949 to ensure collective security against the Soviet Union. 
• The United States, Canada, and several Western European nations were the founding members. 
• NATO's primary and military headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium. Since its inception, NATO has expanded nine times and most recently, Finland became a member on April 4, 2023, exactly 74 years after its formation. 
• Sweden has been accepted as the 32nd member, and Hungary is currently ratifying its Accession Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty.

Function of NATO

• NATO is an organization that promotes democratic values and facilitates consultations and cooperation among its members to address defence and security-related issues. 
• Its primary objective is to prevent conflicts and build trust among nations. 
• This is accomplished through the collective defence clause of NATO's founding treaty - Article 5 of the Washington Treaty - or under a United Nations mandate, alone or in collaboration with other countries and international organizations.