Essay On Humanitarian Intervention

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Intro: Throughout the course of the 1990s, the international system saw development of instruments created to prevent crimes against humanity and foster peace in international affairs. These instruments, used in many conflicts, sanctioned interference to halt atrocities, provided justice for victims, penalised perpetrators and proved to be a stepping stone towards preventing such heinous crimes in the future. Humanitarian intervention has been an element in this mix. There is no standard or legal definition when it comes to humanitarian intervention and it is highly contested but I will begin by selecting the definition that it is a forceful response to circumstances ‘when the violation of human rights within a set of boundaries is so terrible that it makes talk of…show more content…
According to this theory, it is just to enter a war if there is just cause, lawful authority, right intentions, proportionality, reasonable chance of success, and if it is the last resort. The genocidal mass slaughter of between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Rwandans in an approximate 100 day period would most definitely be an example of a just cause to intervene. In relation to humanitarian interventions, the just cause necessity requires that only in cases of massive denials of human rights and systematic abuse may intervention occur. The lawful authority clause involves an international body, or some other appropriate legal body, to approve the military intervention. Although it is difficult to establish what constitutes a lawful authority, it has been widely accepted that the United Nations should be placed with this power. Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter sets out the UN Security Council's powers to "determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression" and to authorise military action. (UN,

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