Title: To loose the bands of wickedness
Description: Since the Second World War there have been remarkable advances in the field of international humanitarian law, precipitated initially by popular reaction to the genocide and other gross violations of human rights perpetrated by Nazi Germany. A major instrument in the protection of human rights has been the United Nations, whose presence is generally recognised to be non-threatening and impartial. Gross violations of human rights not only cause untold suffering for the victims, but also provoke mass flights of populations on a scale which increasingly threatens to destabilise host countries, and ultimately poses a threat to international peace and security.

The international community tries to cope with the ever increasing flow of refugees, but remains reluctant to take coercive measures against the governments directly responsible for massive abuses of human rights, still sheltering behind article 2(7) of the UN Charter, which does not "authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state". Should not governments, in the light of actual events, now consider whether the price of non-intervention is too high, not only on humanitarian grounds, but also because of the escalating costs and the acute political and social problems posed by these mass exoduses? Or is the risk of power abuse for political gain too high because state sovereignty is perceived as absolute. The focus of this study is essentially a practical one.

It considers what reforms and additional measures are required to strengthen the UN's capacity to intervene more effectively on humanitarian issues, particularly those traditionally excluded from UN action by article 2(7) of the Charter. Case histories are included - that of the Kurds in Iraq and the international reaction to the civil strife in Yugoslavia. Every chapter tackles issues from differing financial, legal, philosophical, political and military angles, coming together to form one in-depth and credible whole.
Subjects: Human rights, Intervention (International law), United Nations, United nations., Jx4481 .l59 1992, 323