Humanitarian Intervention In International Countries

Improved Essays
I. INTRODUCTION
The international community appears to believe that there is a direct correlation between military intervention and cessation of gross violations of human rights that are being committed by the government of a state, supposing that there will be an improvement in the conditions for those against whom these violations are being committed if there is a legal humanitarian intervention. This assumption is largely based on the concept that if an intervention is legal, it will be controlled, carefully planned, and done to an international legal standard. NATO has intervened in both Kosovo and Libya over the past 16 years, however only one of these interventions was deemed to be “legal” by the UN Security Council (UNSC). The UNSC found
…show more content…
The legality of humanitarian intervention has been debated in the policy and legal community for several decades. Whether or not humanitarian interventions are per se legal and are an implied limitation on the international legal prohibition on the use of armed force by states is still not a settled matter. In general, issues pertaining to the use of armed intervention within state boundaries to intervene in what are perceived to be gross human rights violations are taken to the UNSC and debated by that body as to whether intervention by the international community is …show more content…
On the whole, it is evident from the literature that states are much more likely to resort to large-scale genocidal-type activity when there is perceived to be an uprising by a rebel faction that has significant popular support (Kuperman A. T., 2008; Crawford & Kuperman, 2006; Smith, 2002). Given that many states start these interventions as a result of a rebel uprising in a region, the outcomes of a humanitarian intervention may be deemed a success, even when it may not be a positive result in the eyes of the recipient state (Kuperman, 2008). Furthermore, as Nzelibe argues, the fact that there may be a given outcome may actually incentivize rebel or state actors to take negative action, with the expectation that the international community will respond and attempt to achieve a certain end (Nzelibe, 2008). Western and Goldstein examine the impact of humanitarian intervention and actually note it to be a positive evolution, indicating that the increased skill with which the international community applies force to prevent human rights atrocities is an improvement. They indicate the metric of success to be the mitigation of violence against civilian, however there is no discussion as to whether this is sustainable in the absence of continued international military pressure (Western & Goldstein, 2011). The reasons

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    March 23, 1999 marked the beginning of the NATO bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia lasting three months. The rationale for the campaign was on the basis of “humanitarian intervention.” It was said to be in prevention of the ethnic cleansing of the Kosovar Albanians of Siberia by the authoritative regime of Slobodan Milosevic. The moral justification of this conflict has since been contested by a variety of theoretical schools of thought. This essay will use the revisions to the Legalist Paradigm presented by Walzer to prove the moral impermissibility of NATOs intervention in Kosovo.…

    • 1366 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Legalist Paradigm Analysis

    • 1540 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The resolution ceased the hostilities between NATO’s Kosovo Force and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The results of the conflict included the UN Security Resolution 1244 which authorized international and civil military presence in Kosovo to ensure peaceful relations. This resolution to the conflict was initially seen as a success of NATO by the international community but has since caused controversy. The essay served to prove the unjust humanitarian intervention of NATO in the Kosovo conflict using Walzers revisions to the Legalist Paradigm. Despite the adherence to Walzers revisions, stating that a war can be initiated as an intervention on humanitarian grounds and in defense of “national liberation”, the ulterior motives by the United States, in conjunction with the unbalanced response towards the Siberian military defense, this thus degrade the validity of the intervention making it unjust by Walzers…

    • 1540 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The decision to intervene in another countries affairs is much more difficult than we would like to believe it is, in our minds if someone needs help we should help them however intervention has many political implications. The UN’s definition of genocide is “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” (6), to define something as a genocide it must also fit into the eight stages of genocide defined by the UN. These eight stages are: classification, symbolization, dehumanization, organization, polarization, preparation, extermination and finally denial (8). These eight stages must be met to classify a genocide, in 1994 it is important to consider who had what information when during the genocide. Kofi Annan, the head of peacekeeping, had enough information to sound the alarm about the events in Rwanda to the UN, however he was “overly passive” (9) and admitted years later in an apology from the UN that he could have and should have done more to sound the alarm and rally support…

    • 1831 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The doctrine of “humanitarian intervention” has long been a controversial subject, both in law and in international relations, and remains so today. Hugo Grotius, in his classical work specifically lists humanitarian intervention as one of the just causes of war. Basis of Humanitarian Intervention: Humanitarian Intervention and UN Charter The UN Charter under Art.…

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    War often carries enormous human costs, but we recognize that the imperative of stopping or preventing genocide or other systematic slaughter can sometimes justify the use of military force. For that reason, Human Rights Watch has on rare occasion advocated humanitarian intervention—for example, to stop ongoing genocide in Rwanda and Bosnia. Understood as a humanitarian intervention, our purpose is not to say whether the U.S.-led coalition should have gone to war for other reasons. That, as noted, involves judgments beyond our mandate.…

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Nisun Aladewolu ENG 102 Professor DeCarlo 13 April 2016 America is basically trying to spread American freedom to these countries. Who could disagree that the people of the Middle East deserve democracy? The question is, Was the middle east more peaceful before the americans invaded it? What are we willing to spend in soldiers lives?…

    • 1177 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Jus In Bello Analysis

    • 1405 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Asymmetric War and Jus in Bello Principles The transformation of war today has challenged long-adapted jus in bello principles in just war tradition. The most frequently seen form of modern warfare is asymmetric warfare/conflict, which is a result of armed conflict between parties with unequal military position. Within an asymmetric warfare, traditional jus in bello principles are questioned on their application to each side of combatants and noncombatants based on the uneven resources and military advantages. In this essay, I would like to compare and contrast two different arguments regarding jus in bello principles in asymmetric warfare.…

    • 1405 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Michael Walzer makes a compelling argument in his article on global crisis, “the Argument about Humanitarian Intervention”. Walzer argues that humans have always been fighting each other and causing global problems. He claims that with today’s technology it has never been simpler to kill large numbers of people, if one has the resources of course. Walzer poses the question that in the event of a humanitarian crisis, such as cases of severe war crimes or ethnic cleansing, to what degree should the rest of the world respond? In Walzer’s article he discusses four major questions.…

    • 984 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Darfurian genocide was one of the most horrific genocides to take place in the 21st century. However, the international response to the genocide was unprecedented and therefore raises a lot of questions on why was the international response different especially when compared to the Rwandan genocide. The Rwandan genocide exemplified the failure of the international community to intervene in both the political side and humanitarian side. The Genocide was allowed to escalate to a horrific extent without any intervention. The close proximity and the parallel reasons behind the genocide led to a lot of questions on why was the response immensely different.…

    • 1528 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Since 2011, a day in Syria will never be the same; colored with death and destruction. Inspired by the grave humanitarian crisis this thesis will examine the occurrence of humanitarian intervention from the perspective of neorealism. As such, on rational choice bases; power-relations, national interests, geostrategic considerations, and domestic support will heavily influence the discussion. This research will explain how the international law and norms clashed with basic state survival concept in light of humanitarian intervention concept where the author found that neorealism view is still by and large govern the interactions within international relations. It can be seen when there is a conflict between idea of humanitarian norms and national…

    • 194 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    History has shown that liberalists have failed at morally intervening in times of humanitarian crisis. In the case of Kosovo Marxist and Social Constructivist argue that the multilateral intervention was unsuccessful. The question is why humanitarian intervention in Kosovo and not Cambodia or Libya and not Iraq? What made Kosovo the exception? Humanitarian intervention is carried out by an multilateral force under international organizations like the UN (Kouchner, 4).…

    • 1692 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    R2p Essay

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages

    These conversations started because of the horrific tragedies that occurred in Rwanda Somalia, and the former Yugoslavia in the 1990’s that threaten and even infringed upon human rights. The questions that stood out was whether states had absolute sovereignty over their own affairs or if the international community can intervene in a sovereign state affairs for humanitarian reasons. According to Westphalian Sovereignty a state has absolute power within its own territory persons of necessity have no legal standing against a sovereign state. Therefore, intervening in a sovereign state’s affairs would have been peculiar to the international community. The United Nations (UN) Security Council, in 1999 failed to authorise actions to spot or curb “ethnic cleansing” in Kosovo.…

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Just War Theory

    • 2920 Words
    • 12 Pages

    The “Just War Theory” (JWT) is a body of thought that has been constructed over many centuries. The theory is widely contested and has many critics. JWT discusses certain situations and instances in which the use of physical force is “justified” to accomplish desired outcomes. I consider this physical force or aggressive action an act of “war.” In my work, I will discuss how the environment is incorporated into this, and if it plays a factor in justifying “aggressive acts.”…

    • 2920 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Just War

    • 3235 Words
    • 13 Pages

    When is it rational for a country to start a violent conflict, and under what particular set of circumstances this happens is something worth analyzing in order to define whether the war between the United States and Iraq can be called “just”. The criteria to consider a war just or not is based on some points that say when a war can be started without any moral restraints. Some of the most important points when relating them to the conflict being analyzed are “War can only be waged by a legitimate government or authority”, “War can only be waged as a last resort, after all other alternatives have been exhausted”, “War must have a reasonable chance of succeeding” and “War can be used to defend a stable political order or a morally just cause against a real threat” (Kaufman, p. 101). Using these points, along with the work of some experts, it is possible to determine if the American government acted following the “Just War”…

    • 3235 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    UNO Case Study

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Abstract In this context, we are going to discuss what are IOs, their roles, actors and non actors. What part UNO played and what it will play in future. What are the purposes and limitations of UNO and what UNO’s further agencies are contributing towards the World economy and prosperity. International Organizations…

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays