Bulletin n. 3/2011
February 2012
INDICE
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Fausto Pocar
    Humanitarian Intervention and Responsibility to Protect: a Necessary Connection?
    in Quaderni di Relazioni Internazionali , n. 15, novembre 2011 ,  2011 ,  4-12
    As per recent international practice of the use of force, international organizations or individual States have engaged in various forms of military intervention. This has occurred within the territory of States where there have been internal armed conflicts or serious disturbances, provided that evidence was given of grave violations of human rights committed by governmental authorities or non State actors against the civilian population. Such interventions are justified by the necessity to protect the victims or potential victims of these violations and to prevent their perpetration in the future. Irrespective of the real reasons underlying the decision to intervene in each individual case and of its conformity to the legitimate objectives of the foreign policy of the State or international organization concerned, these incidents show an increasing tension between the fundamental principle of State sovereignty, the respect for which is an essential basis of peaceful international relations, and the supreme values of humanity, which should be observed by all States, as enshrined in the United Nations Charter and identified and proclaimed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. How can it be maintained that fundamental human rights are «universal» – that they belong to «all members of the human family» and are «the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world» – and accept at the same time that they are daily violated with impunity by any individual State? How may it be accepted that a State can invoke its sovereignty over the people living on its territory to exempt itself from responsibility for the violation of such rights?
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