The Scope of the Doctrine of Humanitarian Intervention - Essay Example

United Nations in the Humanitarian Intervention Collage: This paper analyzes the main role of the United Nations Charter during the post-cold war. When the Cold War ended, a lot of conflicts were experienced across the world. Consequently, there was rise in demand for United Nations (UN) peacemaking activities. Therefore the UN began to challenge the traditional norms of peacemaking such as non-intervention to humanitarian affairs and domestic affairs, and non-use of force in the peacemaking activities across the world. Basically, this essay demonstrates the role of the United Nations Charter in the post cold-war and its impact in the humanitarian intervention. In addition, this paper analyses the structural reform proposals of the UN Charter and the challenges it is currently facing. The various current matters of Security Council reform financing and proposals of the UN Charter are also discussed (Latif 2000, p.25). The United Nations Charter was born forty four years ago and it was as a result of the sufferings caused by the Second World War. The main purpose of the above mentioned Charter was to secure the upcoming generation from the impacts of the war. Moreover, the United Nations Charter aimed at correcting the League of the Nations’ weaknesses. The leadership of the United Charter rests on the highest authorities. Nevertheless, the challenges as a result of the Cold War barred the UN Charter from carrying out its main goals of the maintance of peace and security. The cold war was accompanied by a hostile environment and the UN could not perform its key role to implement the provisions made in the Charter, which were related to international security and peace. Despite the hostile environment presented by the Cold war, the United Nations pursued its Charter purposes in various fields such as in the improvement of social standards for individuals, decolonization and in the protection of human rights ((Mendlovitz & Weston 1995, p.13). Moreover, there were some adjustments that were made to the UN Charter and this enabled it to cope with various threats imposed to the international security and peace. The establishment of the UN Charter led to various dramatic changes in the world structure of peace and security. The above organizations came up with various ways of solving the challenges they came across. For instance, in order to eliminate the powers used by high authorities during the Cold War, the UN Charter established various peacemaking (Mingst & Karens 1995, p.29) and it took the role of the Security Council in maintaining international peace and security. After the Cold War and the elimination of the Soviet Union, the UN had expectations that it will finally begin its principal goals. The collective feedback to the Iraq’s hostility against Kuwait improved the hopes for the future goals of the United Nations Charter in maintaining peace and security. Nevertheless, the Gulf War was the final form of traditional interstates conflicts during the post-Cold War era. The United Nations had modern kinds of operations were in the name of humanitarian intervention. As a result, there was increased demand for the UN peacemaking activities in order to reduce the conflicts that were occurring in various parts of the world. Consequently, the UN underwent various renaissances in order to have the capacity to handle world’s challenges after the end of the Cold War. It is evidenced that the World War II led to the development of the United Nations Charter. The leaders in the highest authority needed the United Nations Charter during the calming period after the Second World War. In addition, the establishment of the United Nations Charter enabled various states across the world not to enter into destructive wars (Mingst & Karens 1995, p.33). The United Nations chapter was formed in 1945 and its main aim was to correct the League of the United Covenant’s weaknesses. The officials who signed the United Nations Charter aimed at forming ways of correcting the deficiencies of the League, for instance, inadequate collective security arrangements for maintenance of security and peace and the enhancement of freedom of all member state. The members of the above mentioned League formed various alliance systems and they did not take any action against aggression and some of its property, assets and roles were moved to the UN Charter. After the formation of the UN Charter in the year 1945, the world was divided into two camps namely the USSR and the US (Savage 1970, p.11). The above mentioned groups opposed each in all main issues and they treated each in total mistrust. Consequently, the conflict between the US and the USSR groups after the World War 11 reduced the effectiveness of the United Nations in maintaining peace and security. One of the requirements of United Charter was a form of unanimity among the members of the Security Council. Therefore, this illustrated the meaning of politics and power of the World War II. The first humanitarian intervention made by the UN Charter was between the year 1945 and 1960. During this period the world was divided in in-terms of power vacuums, psychological warfare, arms race and ideological blocs. During the above mentioned period the United Nations was overruled by the United States and its Western Allies. This environment could not allow the United Nations Charter to carry out its main goal of maintaining peace and security (Mendlovitz & Weston 1995, p.12). This is because the West and the East could not trust each other in carrying out military action on behalf of the UN and the roles of the Security Council were limited. The Korean War gives a clear evidence of how the UN Charter became a point of challenge between two ideological blocs. This is because during the Korean War the UN changed from being a forum for diplomatic pressure to a definite role in means not envisaged by the Charter (Mendlovitz & Weston 1995, p.70). The Suez Canal, which occurred in the year 1956, is another form of deviation from the United Nations Charter. The first intervention of the Charter in Suez Canal was through the development of the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF). Therefore, the intervention of the UN Charter was to control conflict management. The United Nations Charter does not list specific peacemaking operations. Nevertheless, the objectives and the measures of the UN Charter are placed in Chapter V1 and VII. According to the chapter VI all the members of the state should solve their disputes by using peaceful operations and interacting with the international security, justice and peace (Schabacker Nowrot 1998, p.234). Under the chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the Security Council should be in a position to evaluate any form of threat to the international peace and security. Notably, peacemaking operations are defined as the various activities that are carried out by the military personnel. Nevertheless, the peacekeeping operations are carried out without implementation of powers and they are carried out by the UN in order to promote peace and international security in fields of conflict (Amsrtrons, Loyd & Redmond 1996, p.87). The key objectives of peacemaking operations is not to defeat the aggressor, rather, it is aimed at eliminating fighting and they only use forces in cases of self defense (He 1995, p.84). Therefore, the peacemakers must be neutral and have consent with either of the disputing groups. In its first stages, the UN members utilized the organization in furtherance of their national interests. The United States of America proved to be more successful and this was as a result of its dominance in the international society. The UN was politically controlled and financed by the US and its allies. However, the UN continued to play its role in enhancing peace in some of those disputes and this helped in enhancing peace in the world. Between the year 1960 and 1970, the United Nations offered assistance to the decolonization of Asia and Africa. In addition, during the above mentioned period the United Nations Charter was transformed to Third World dominated organization. Therefore, the United Nations Charter agenda was widened in regard to developmental and economical issues. Nevertheless, the efforts of the United Nations Charter in the humanitarian intervention did not prevent the Vietnam War ((Mendlovitz & Weston 1995, p.12). During the Vietnam War, the United Nations Chapter was not meaningful and therefore, it could not solve the conflict. The soviets provided their support to the Communist Vietnamese and therefore, the Security Council could not maintain peace and security. Nevertheless, the peacemaking operations of the United Nations continued to enhance peace in the states. The Charter offered humanitarian assistance and it acted as a buffer between the disputing communities. After the emergence of the third world countries, the international society changed and therefore the United Nations priorities were shifted and its agenda was also altered y revolting the racial discrimination, colonialism and the North-South gap. From the year 1980, the slumps of the previous years were changing into crisis. As a result, there was total disillusionment among the developed countries as to the United Nations role in the world politics. During the above mentioned period the United Nations could not carry out its main role in various world conflicts. For instance, when the Iranian government came into power in the year 1979, there were several ignored appeals from the Security Council and this released the American diplomatic criminals (Gallant 1992, p.885). At the same time the fighting between the Vietnam and China was on going. The Iran-Iraq war began in 1980 and during this time the United Nations had financial challenges since the US did not contribute to its budget. During the above mentioned period there were a lot of international conflicts in the form of guerilla wars, armed rebellions and civil wars and this prevented the United Nations from intervening. Therefore, the UN was very helpless in the Northern Ireland, against the Peshmerga Kurds in Irag, the civil war in Chad, Colombia, Nicaragua, Sudan and Salvador (Bertrand 1997, p.59). The United Nations could not play its role in offering humanitarian assistance because of the unwillingness of the varying disputants. Notably, the end of the Cold War reduced the various troubles the UN had faced. In order to end the fighting in the south-western Africa two agreements were signed. The implementation of the United Nations Charter made a huge contribution to the success of the above mentioned agreements. The UN played a vital role by providing various frameworks in which most of the negotiations were settled. There was a lot of confidence on both sides that each party will keep its promises and this improved the UN contribution to humanitarian intervention. During the Cold War era, the peacemaking operations of the UN Charter were very meaningful in the conflict management (Bertrand 1997, p.87). In the 1990s, there was great change of environment in the international arena. There was dissolution of the USSR and the Soviet bloc and this reduced the hostility and suspicion between the above mentioned blocs. Consequently, the UN gained a momentum in its field of maintaining peace and security across the world. In addition, the elimination of the old hostilities developed a more conducive environment in the Security Council. Notably, there was an illusion that the UN Charter would be used effectively in the process of solving the disputes (Massingham 2009, p.805). This was consolidated by the achievement of the UN coalition in fighting the Saddam’s attack on Kuwait. There was hope that the UN was going to carry out its main role indicated in the Charter, which was the maintenance of peace and security across the world. In the year 1990, the Iraqi armed forces attacked the Kuwait at the border and this enabled them to take control of the oil-rich nation. Immediately, the Security Council asked the Iraq to either withdraw from the fight or face the force with collective response. The Iraq refused to accept the warnings and therefore the UN Charter demanded them to adhere to the previous resolutions of the UN and to cooperate with the Kuwait in order to restore peace and security (Stoessinger 1965, p.7). Nevertheless, the military operation against the Iraq did not use a collective security for a lot of individuals. The United State led agreement was to act on behalf of the UN Charter and this was unlike the Korean circumstance in the early 1950s. As it was in the case of the Korea, the Security Council did not manage to control the US and its coalition and they also failed to carry outs its supervisory responsibility. The aims of the war went beyond the stated mission in restoring the Kuwaiti sovereignty and this led to new legal and security challenges. The implementation of the forces in destroying the Iraq’s civilian infrastructure and the continued fight against the Iraq troops led to the abuse of the US-led coalition. In addition, there were challenges that the UN Charter hastily began the operations due to the US pressure without diminishing the non-military measures (Stoessinger 1965, p.11). Nevertheless, immediately after the UN coalition won against the Iraq, the Charter shared the UN shared the victory and this improved its prestige. The US-led military operation in the Gulf was termed as a form of improved UN Charter after the Cold War. The UN Charter peacemaking operations lacked direct linked to its members. For instance, the Japan and the Germany who were supposed to contribute monetary facilities towards the collective action. Therefore, the Germany and the Japan were not allowed to make significant decision-making meetings; consequently, this fuelled their main interests in permanent memberships in the Security Council. The Gulf war resulted to a positive image in the thoughts of individuals and this improved the demand for the implementation of the UN Charter peacemaking operations (Hilpold 2001, p.438). Notably, the Gulf War played an important role in illustrating how the UN Charter needed in order to deal with all the humanitarian aspects of world conflicts. Immediately, after the Iraq withdrew from the Kuwait for the first time, the UN Charter carried out humanitarian intervention and they enhanced a safe environment for the refugees. Nevertheless, the Security Council accused the Iraqi authoritarianism as a form of threat to the international peacemaking operations and the humanitarian organizations were demanded to provide assistance. Various states such as the Britain, Netherlands and France and the US provided refugee places in the northern Iraq for all the Kurds. Likewise, the developing states were not comfortable by the various decisions made by the UN interference in the local affairs. This diminished the sovereignty of the UN under the justification of the humanitarianism. The Gulf War became the final case of the traditional form of intra-state disputes. On the other hand, various intra-state conflicts took the form of ethnic conflicts and other forms of civil wars which broke up in various parts of the world during the post-Gulf war (Hilpold 2001, p.440). The end of the Cold War led to the resurgence of ethnic conflicts and nationalism in most of the regions that were under the communist and authoritarian regimes. The end of the Cold War demanded self-determination and therefore, a new form of civil wars erupted such as the Yugoslavia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. This resulted to economic decay, corruption, natural disasters and other forms of devastating state policies across the world. As a result, there was need for the UN Charter to react to all the above mentioned conflicts across the world. Therefore, the peacemaking operation of the UN Charter improved enormously. Since the end of the Gulf War, the UN Charter has introduced new peacemaking operations in Somalia, Georgia, Rwanda, Haiti, South Africa, Mozambique and Angola. Nevertheless, the peacemaking operations in the above mentioned countries are different from the UN Charter peacemaking operations during the Cold War. In addition, the types of conflicts mentioned above resulted to the questioning of the standards of the state sovereignty and non-participation in the states’ humanitarian affairs. Moreover, there was a new debate over whether the internal conflicts during the post-Gulf period resulted to the implementation of the UN Charter roles (Berridge 1991, p.71). This opened up a new form of era in the field of international politics accompanied by political concepts such as the eroding sovereignty and humanitarian intervention. As a result of the above mentioned political conditions, the UN Charter was adopted in order to handle the types of armed conflicts across the world. When the UN Charter was fully implemented in peacemaking operations across the world, the cases of cross-border attacks became very rare and the interstate conflict was replaced by the intrastate conflict and this was a huge threat to the international peace and security. Nevertheless, the UN Charter was able to cope with all the above mentioned challenges. The UN Charter was established to enhance peace and security and it was mainly established in order to deal with interstate conflicts and not civil wars or intrastate conflicts (Yoder 1993, p.96). The rising demand for the UN Charter in peacemaking operations and the types of the new roles entrusted to the multinational military forces presented the UN and other forms of troops contributing nations with management and operational challenges. The failure of the UN Charter at the end of the Cold War led to the critical evaluation of the main principles and activities of peacemaking as a key standard for conducting and initiating operations. This made the UN to accelerate its search for improved capacity in the conflict resolution (Latif 2000, p.28). The humanitarian issues in regard to the rising violence and challenges in the chaotic international conflicts increased the challenge to the non-intervention norm. Humanitarian emergencies, which includes mass escape of individuals to the neighboring nations led to a lot of threats to the international peace and security. Currently, humanitarian intervention has become very important in maintain peace and security across the world. The concept of humanitarian intervention aims at improving access to the people who are suffering and also build bridges among the parties in the conflict. Nevertheless, the basis of humanitarian intervention should be based on impartiality, humanity and neutrality (Weiss, Forsythe & Coate 1994, p.46). The provision of the humanitarian assistance of the individuals suffering as a result of the war is very challenging and the humanitarian intervention is regarded as form of external intervention. In addition, the internal wars dominated the logistics of the warfare and this has forced the international community to cope with the various responsibilities under the humanitarian intervention law. On the other hand the combination of the enforcement causes various issues that demand the role of the humanitarian intervention neutrality (Weiss, Forsythe & Coate 1994, p.48). Despite the fact that the UN Charter did not follow the normative principles such as the national sovereignty and non-intervention, the Charter was involved in various wars across the world in form of humanitarian assistance. The results of the UN Charter were not fully implemented in Somalia, Rwanda Yugoslavia. The UN Charter did not rescue the individuals from the desperate situations. There was case of suspicion about the neutrality of the UN Charter in peacemaking operations and legitimacy. The UN Charter is losing confidence as a type of security organization. In addition, the UN Charter is experiencing deep financial crisis (Latif 2000, p.31). The above mentioned Charter is also suffering from not being in a position to make decisions in critical security situations. Notably, the UN Charter failed after the Cold War due to lack of adequate resources, equipment and efficient machinery to handle various types of conflicts across the world. The current procedures make it hard for the UN Charter to mobilize peacemaking activities and to develop them in the operational fields. Therefore, the UN Charter peacemaking operations must be re-organized (Bourantis & Wienner 1995, p.13). The United Nations Charter involvement in the Yugoslavia started when the Security Council Resolution adopted complete deliveries of military equipments. There were various touching issues that were affecting the nation and this included and individual and group rights, self-determination and practice of limits of sovereignty. Therefore, the United Charter did not hesitate in intervening in the fights. Consequently, the Security Council received the Security Council proposals for peacemaking operations and the United Nations Charter protection force. Notably, throughout the Yugoslavia conflict there was an impression that the UN was very impotent (Latif 2000, p.36). After the tragedy of the Yugoslavia it was evidenced that the international communities were very reluctant in intervening into the conflicts and this was not threatening the global stability. A lot of individuals were killed as a result of ethnic reasons. The UN charter resolutions were not implemented and its peacemakers were attacked. The UN efforts were not supported by the United States and its allies. In addition, the United Nations efforts in maintaining peace and security across the world prevented the world conflict from spreading to the other parts of the world. The humanitarian intervention by the United Charter was meaningful this is because it provided the standards for the world’s peace agreement and negotiations (Woodhouse, Bruce & Dando 1998, p.49). Another case study of UN charter in humanitarian intervention was experience between 1991 and 1992 in Somalia when civil order collapsed and the warring clans gained full control of the other parts of the nation. There were a lot of deaths, famine and scarcity of food and this made the individuals to seek humanitarian intervention. The Somalia operation took place in a nation where there was no point of order and there was neither government authority nor sovereignty lost. During the operation, the United Nation Charter went against its principles of maintain peace and security. The UN Charter demonstrates institutional impotence and weakness of its leadership where the maintenance of its impartiality was very difficult (Krause & Knight 1995, p.15). The UN Charter is in the process of transformation at the end of the Cold War. There is a new hope that the UN system could be transformed in order to carry out its peacemaking operations properly. In addition, the co-operation in the Security Council to stop Iraq’s fight against the Kuwait increases the hopes for the UN’s future tasks. There is a widespread hope among the politicians and the scholars for the UN Charter. As a result of the euphoria surrounding the UN Charter the Security Council came up with a programme of reforming and strengthening the UN roles that are within the Charter (Wentges 1998, p.61). After the Cold War, there were various internal wars in different parts of the world as experienced in the former Rwanda, Haiti, Somalia and Cambodia. The Gulf War was the last form of traditional interstate wars experienced across the world. On the other hand, the nature of the interstate wars have changes and the UN is called upon to deal with the modern forms of armed conflicts which were not predicted when the UN Charter was drafted. Notably, the UN Charter was mainly designed to deal with interstate conflicts; therefore, the organization was not adequately equipped to handle conflicts that are within the internal borders. The proved not to be successful in dealing with the above mentioned conflicts as it was expected. While dealing with the above mentioned conflicts, the UN charter had to eliminate all the traditional norms and principles such as the implementation of the non-use of forces in peacemaking operations, state sovereignty and non-intervention into the humanitarian affairs. In furtherance, the Security Council was mandated to carry out enforcement actions in order to develop conducive environment for various humanitarian intervention. This created the difference between the peace enforcement operations and peacekeeping activities of the UN (Amsrtrons, Loyd & Redmond 1996, p.113). Despite the fact that the above mentioned agreement increased the UN’s efficiency. In addition, the agreement for the UN’s efficiency formed a negative effect on the organization’s credibility. The United Nations Charter should aim at improving the capabilities in accordance with the modern changes and circumstances in the world’s agenda. 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