"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." (MLK)
The international community strongly denounced the violence in Syria but so far it hasn’t been able to provide an effective framework to prevent and stop these atrocities. The responsibility to protect (R2P) doctrine - adopted in 2005 to embody the promises made by world leaders...
... intervention, which defines who has the right to authorize military intervention.
Criterion 6: Right authority
It is rather important to ensure that a military intervention is legitimate and has broad support from the international community. The United Nations Security Council is the only international body that should represent the world’s voice and make decisions with binding force. But the politicization of the Security Council sometimes prevents it from making just decisions that could ...
... chances of challenging local forces. At the same time the intervening force must not be excessive – intervention is different from full scale war. Proportional means would put a constraint on the use of force, which should be minimized during humanitarian interventions.
Coupled with proportional means, a clear mandate authorized by the UN Security Council containing detailed instructions on what exactly can and cannot be done on the ground will manage the expectations of all parties to the ...
... and are not likely to give up on their interests easily.
To be continued...
[1] U.N. Security Council, 3368th meeting.Resolution 912 (S/RES/912). 21 April 1994.
[2] U.N. Security Council. Report of the Independent Inquiry into the actions of the United Nations during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda (S/1999/1257).16 December 1999.
[3] U.N. Security Council. 6498 th meeting. Resolution 1973 (S/RES/1973). 17 March 2011.
[4] U.N. Refugee Agency. Syria Regional Refugee Response. http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional....
In my previous blog entry I talked about the politicized and selective approaches of UN Member States to making decision on intervention into intra-state conflicts. So, what could be the solution to this problem? What is needed to minimize the politicization? Clear criteria for military intervention should be defined in international law, so that when an intra-state conflict erupts, the international community, having timely assessed the conflict on the ground, could run through a checklist of those...
The goal of “saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war” professed by the international community in the United Nations Charter quite often collides with the real resources and risks that UN Member States are willing to commit to achieve it. The horrifying levels of human suffering experienced in Somalia, Rwanda and now Syria are just some of examples of ...
... knows what will happen to the base if the armed rebels take control of the country? As well, Syria is Russia’s only Arab allay, and Moscow, of course, would like to keep it that way.
It is no secret that Moscow has problems with the notion of humanitarian interventions. It is not clear what those criteria for intervention are, and how to make sure that intervention doesn’t infringe on state’s sovereignty and that interveners are not guided by selfish ends. Unlawful exercise of ...
