The Legality And Feasibility Of Humanitarian Intervention
- IJLLR Journal
- Apr 13
- 1 min read
Vaibhav Sharma, B.B.A.LL.B., National Law University Odisha
ABSTRACT
Humanitarian intervention takes up one of the most disputed spheres of the international law as applied to the masses. The international order of post 1945 is based on the ban on the use of force in Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter1. However, the cases of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity present the following question that has lingered, can the law be inflexible when it faces mass atrocity? This paper looks at the issue of whether unilateral humanitarian intervention is legal under the current international law and evaluates whether it can be deemed either normatively or practically viable in spite of its dubious legality. It claims that such intervention is illegal according to positive international law since the law of treaty, customary or law of court does not acknowledge it as an exception. Nevertheless, the development of the Responsibility to Protect indicates a significant political and moral change, despite the fact that it does not establish a separate legal foundation of an unilateral use of force. The possibility of humanitarian intervention is still limited by structural constraints to the collective security system as well as geopolitical imperatives.
