The result is that at a time of renewed interest in humanitarian intervention, the iraq war and the effort to justify it even in part in humanitarian terms risk giving humanitarian intervention a. Because of the potential loss of life inherent in any military action, the author contends that a threshold test of a humanitarian intervention is whether it is necessary to stop ongoing or imminent mass slaughter. Humanitarian intervention was supposed to have gone the way of the 1990s. Humanitarian intervention ethical,legal,andpoliticaldilemmas edited by j. Pdf this article assesses whether the 2003 invasion of iraq can be justified as a humanitarian intervention. Iraqs weak infrastructure and limited capacity the result of decades of conflict as well as its. Security council had linked humanitarian concerns to international peace and security and had given humanitarianism greater weight than non intervention. Conflict and humanitarian crisis in iraq world health organization. Security council had linked humanitarian concerns to international peace and security and had given humanitarianism greater weight than nonintervention. Because of the potential loss of life inherent in any military action, the author contends. Humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect.
It is thus necessary to ask, can the invasion of iraq be justified as a humanitarian intervention. The use of military force across borders to stop mass killing was seen as a luxury of. The abovenoted international commission on intervention and state. Humanitarian intervention is generally understood to be the transboundary use of military force in order to halt or avert largescale and grave human suffering, and is a subject that has attracted much scholarly attention in recent decades. Humanitarian intervention during the cold war general. At different times and in various places the collective and the humanitarian elements in military interventions may have. Humanitarian implications of the wars in iraq icrc. Could humanitarian intervention be legally justified in extreme cases. Was the iraq war a humanitarian intervention journal of. The iraq war highlights the need for a better understanding of when military intervention can be justified in humanitarian terms. In wake of national elections in may 2018, iraq entered a new phase of international engagement with an increased focus on early recovery and development. Taylor seybolts thoroughly documented and rigorously argued cases provide speci. Civilians who remain in camps need to be cared for, with camp conditions brought up to.
Humanitarian intervention on its face incompatible with article 24 81 2. This question received little serious attention before the war. This article assesses whether the 2003 invasion of iraq can be justified as a humanitarian intervention. The rule of law in an incoherent world ian hurd t he concept of humanitarian intervention has evolved as a subset of the laws governing the use of force and has very quickly come to occupy an institutional position alongside selfdefense and security council authorization as a legal and legitimate reason for. Humanitarian military intervention is not an oxymoron but a central policy challenge of our times. Iraq european civil protection and humanitarian aid. Humanitarian intervention and the united nations on jstor. The basic argument of this chapter is that there are substantive moral and ethical imperatives that, at times. It was the first sustained use of armed force by the nato alliance in its 50year existence. Natos humanitarian war aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaa over kosovo the 11week bombing campaign conducted by nato in spring 1999 against the federal republic of yugoslavia fry has many claims to uniqueness.
Although the intensity of intervention and public awareness of it as a phenomenon have grown enormously, it has a protracted historical ancestry. Council was never asked to contemplate a humanitarian intervention in iraq. The humanitarian implications of these wars are immense and tragic. Humanitarian relief agencies in iraq assisted around 3. Humanitarian intervention, the responsibility to protect.