Humanitarian Intervention

Humanitarian Intervention
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(October 28, 2011)
Humanitarian Intervention
Humanitarian intervention means the use of force in a state so as to end violations of fundamental human rights of persons without permission from the state. Many are times that humanitarian intervention is offered only when situations are already worse, when many people are dead (Holzgrefe, & Keohane, 2003). There is no clear point that gives the other state a right to offer assistance to the persons, since other issues will be at stake; however, the issue of protecting the lives of citizens which is of paramount importance must be first. This paper tackles the question whether humanitarian intervention should be limited only to cases where a vital national interest is at stake.
In Rwanda during the genocide, the international community never acted, they watched as the Tutsis were butchered and hacked to death. Such incidents raise the major debate of the moral and legal argument on humanitarian intervention. Sovereignty of a state is a major factor when invading another state; for instance, if any state want to give assistance to its neighbors who are afflicted they must have a justified legal basis to do so. On the other hand, the citizens are being killed by the authorities; this initiates the question “what is more important, protecting life or protecting the sovereignty”. Putting life first means that a...