Is Humanitarian Intervention Ever Morally Justified?

The issue of humanitarian intervention has been at the forefront of international relations discourse, particularly after the end of the Cold War. It has been a highly contentious subject, having impact on millions of peoples in a number of states and regions around the world. The international actors are yet to come up with a consensus on a set of principles and parameters that define and characterize intervention... In this essay, [the author] will underscore the need for the international community to come up with a basic framework favouring humanitarian intervention, based on an emerging norm that places the victims of gross human rights violations at the centre of the decision making process. [The author wants] to establish a moral basis for humanitarian intervention, with the objective of halting massive and systematic violations of human rights. [The author] will assert that traditional notions of sovereignty should not be an obstacle to intervention. Ethical obligations should override both sovereign equality claims and state national interest. [E-International Relations Students]