TO LOOSE THE BANDS OF WICKEDNESS: International Intervention in Defence of Human Rights

by NigelS.Rodley (Editor)

• Used

  Hardcover
  1992

  $3.25

  Gross violations of human rights not only cause untold suffering for the victims, but also provoke mass flights of populations on a scale which increasingly threatens to destabilize host countries and ultimately threatens international peace and security. The international community tries to cope with the ever-increasing flow of refugees, but remains reluctant to take coercive measures against the governments directly responsible for massive abuses of human rights, still sheltering behind Article 2(7) of the United Nations Charter, which does not authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state . Should governments, in the light of actual events, consider whether the price of non-intervention is too high - not only on humanitarian grounds, but also because of the escalating costs and the acute political and social problems posed by this form of mass exodus? Or is the risk of power-abuse for political gain too high, and should a state's own sovereignty be absolute? The focus of this book is essentially a practical one. It consists of separate chapters dealing with the history of the relationship between governments and the sovereignty of individual states, the legal background, and the instruments of persuasion and coercion at the disposal of the United Nations. It also considers what reforms and additional measures are required to strengthen the UN's capacity to intervene more effectively on humanitarian issues, particularly those traditionally excluded from UN action by Article 2(7). Among the case histories included are those of the Kurds and of international reaction to the civil strife in Yugoslavia. Each chapter tackles issues from a different angle.