Humanitarian Intervention - Ethically and Morally the Relevent Mission for the New Millennium

摘要

One of the biggest post-Cold War debates has been on the use of our military in a new role of humanitarian interventions. When our force structure and budget are downsizing, but our OPTEMPO and involvement around the globe continues to grow, we must look at the mission that is defining our relevance: that of humanitarian intervention. The focus of this paper is the ongoing tension and debate between the idealist impulse to intervene militarily around the globe in humanitarian causes and the realist recognition that the commitment of armed forces must be made only with great discretion and when it is clear that the benefits will outweigh any loss. The paper will examine the legal, moral and ethical considerations concerning humanitarian intervention. It will look at the issue of state sovereignty vs the concern for human rights and the question whether states may unilaterally intervene by force in order to put an end to serious human rights violations.