Peace treaty
A peace treaty is a declaration under international law of the state of peace between two or more states that have previously been at war . The peace agreement is usually accompanied by a peace treaty .
The peace agreement is generally declared after the war has ended and following a ceasefire . In contrast to a peace treaty, peace can also be concluded unilaterally without the consent of the enemy. A peace treaty usually contains the declaration of the conclusion of peace.
The violent struggle between parties or different parts of a state, which under certain conditions must be waged according to the international law of war , can only be ended by a peace agreement if both parties grant each other independence under international law. Otherwise, even among independent states under international law, the war can be ended without a peace agreement by the complete submission of one to the other. Peace agreements can be initiated and promoted by offering good services from neutral states or through formal mediation ( intervention ). If one of the warring states makes the further negotiation dependent on certain immediate concessions, then these, such as the place, time and form of the peace negotiation, are agreed in so-called preliminaries , and if they already anticipate the essential part of the peace treaty, they are referred to as preliminary peace . A general armistice is necessarily connected with the preliminary peace, while the preliminary negotiations do not rule out the continuation of the war. The meeting of the plenipotentiaries to negotiate a definitive peace is called the Peace Congress . From the end of the 19th century this term was only used when the leading statesmen appeared themselves. If several allies took part in the hostilities on one or both sides, a peace agreement that does not encompass all belligerents is called a separate peace .
In Germany , the Bundestag can declare peace by means of a federal law in accordance with Article 115l, Paragraph 3 of the Basic Law .
