The Scourge of War: Humanitarian Intervention and the Prohibition of the Use of Force in the UN Charter

Abstract

This chapter discusses the prohibition of the use of force and arguments that a right of humanitarian intervention is not incompatible with the Charter provisions. These arguments fall broadly into two schools. First, it has been argued that humanitarian intervention might not contravene the Charter prohibition if it does not violate the ‘territorial integrity or political independence’ of the target state. As Oscar Schachter has observed, this demands an Orwellian construction of those terms. Secondly, it has been argued that humanitarian intervention may be justified where the appropriate international organ (the Security Council) is unwilling or unable to act to prevent atrocities. This argument presumes a more general customary right of forcible self-help that is incompatible with fundamental precepts of the international legal order.