Should International Law Recognize a Right of Humanitarian Intervention to Support and Reflect a Pluralistic Understanding of Sovereignty?
International & Comparative Law Quarterly (Forthcoming)
21 Pages Posted: 30 Nov 2016 Last revised: 27 Feb 2017
Date Written: August 18, 2016
Abstract
The on-going Syrian civil war calls for a re-evaluation of using force to protect human rights. This paper does not rake over the much-debated issue of whether a right of humanitarian intervention exists as lex lata. Instead, it addresses the little reviewed normative issue of whether the right should exist in international law to support and reflect a pluralistic understanding of sovereignty. Despite advancements in international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law, this wider fabric of international law preserves Westphalian sovereignty and the principle of non-intervention. It denies any right of humanitarian intervention.
Keywords: humanitarian intervention, sovereignty, international human rights law, international humanitarian law, international criminal law, jus ad bellum
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