Each country in the world, since gaining its recognised independence, has the universal right of sovereignty. However this term has had a misleading understanding of its meaning. According to the International Public Law, which is a worldwide document that stipulates general guidelines on how to manage international politics, sovereignty is known as the nature of an independent state with a supreme and unlimited power within its territorial boundaries, recognised by the International community, including the inviolability of the physical frontiers of a State (Reisman 1990). As circumstances change, so does sovereignty policies. The United States (UN) Charter (1946) states that a country has a recognised right of self determination and sovereignty; nonetheless, it also acknowledges that if international security is violated, other countries can take measures, such as violation of territorial integrity. Although, the sovereignty of countries is considered a extremely important right, it must be inalienable to a certain extent; other nations must be able to violate this right in certain situations, that might be considered of international concerning; for example, for humanitarian aid when a country is having internal issues, violation of human rights of civilian population and endangering world peace or neighbour countries. This essay will analyse the violation of territorial integrity and its potential consequences.
As said before territory integrity is subject to change. One circumstance, in which the violation of sovereignty is permissible is humanitarian aid . As stated in the Geneva Convention (1949, p.65) a country “ must allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need”. It enabl...
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...humanitarian aid, Pluto Press, London
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Humanitarian Intervention generally means the use of military force to ensure the preservation of life, human rights, and freedom. Therefore, many believe that external intervention is a direct challenge to the sovereignty of a nation. However, when gross violations of human rights occur “punishing criminals…is something that most people would support because of their belief that this is what justice requires... If punishment can be justified, so can intervention to stop a crime that is about to occur, or is already in progress” (Singer 120). Therefore intervention is not only needed but a necessity when confronting crimes against peace and humanity. Specifically “acts that kill or inflict serious bodily or mental harm on large numbers of people, or deliberately inflict on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction, and when the state nominally in charge is unable or unwilling to stop” (Singer
In order for a state to be allowed intervention into a conflict on the international sphere, they must first gain approval from all the members of the United Nations Security Council. Through this it is assumed that the reasoning for intervening are assessed, and legitimate. It should be noted however that This however has been proven to be a cumbersome mechanism to adhere to the right authority aspect as permission has never been granted by the UN Security Council to intervene in the conflict of a sovereign nation. The international community is largely hesitant to label a conflict a ‘humanitarian conflict’ as this would imply the necessity of international intervention.
The United Nations General Assembly 36-103 focused on topics of hostile relations between states and justification for international interventions. Specifically mentioned at the UNGA was the right of a state to perform an intervention on the basis of “solving outstanding international issues” and contributing to the removal of global “conflicts and interference". (Resolution 36/103, e). My paper will examine the merits of these rights, what the GA was arguing for and against, and explore relevant global events that can suggest the importance of this discussion and what it has achieved or materialized.
Solution." Indiana Journal Of Global Legal Studies 18.2 (2011): 901-927. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.
The “Trojan Horse” exists in humanitarian intervention as it is mixed with considerations of national interest, such as state influence, national power, prestige and access to potential oil supplies. For example, in Syria and Sri Lanka, the responsibility to protect norm has not done very little to protect populations within states. The author notes that the international community's feeble responsibility on the Darfur’s crisis has failed to recognize the role of the “responsibility to protect.” The West’s disinclination to intervene in Darfur raises skepticism about the West’s humanitarian intervention techniques, especially after the invasion of Iraq and western strategic interests in Sudan. Nevertheless, the notion of the responsibility to protect is important in the protection of human rights as it seeks to confront atrocity committed by states through prevention, protection or
Humanitarian intervention is termed as the use of military power to intervene on another state without the endorsement of its rulers for the sake of safeguard and defense for civili...
Hans-Peter Gasser, “The Changing Relationship between International Criminal Law, Human Rights Law and Humanitarian Law,” The Legal Regime of the ICC: Essays in Honour of Prof. I.P. Blishchenko (2009) pp. 1111-1117.
McCoubrey, Hilaire, and Nigel D. White. International Law and Armed Conflict. Dartmouth: Brookfield, VT, 1992.
As stated above, the principle of territorial integrity will led to the international disputes and effect the political order of the world. As for that, this principle also play a role as the primary importance on maintaining the stability and security of the world. As stated in the article 1 of UN Charter, it is the state’s responsibility on the territorial integrity as a lane with the responsibility of them on maintaining peace in the
The Belligerent occupation does not completely transfer sovereignty over territory to the occupying power (which exercises de facto authority)
Magno, A., (2001) Human Rights in Times of Conflict: Humanitarian Intervention . Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, 2 (5). [online] Available from: [Accessed 2 March 2011]
Von Galhn and Taulbee. 2013. Law Among Nations. An Introduction to Public International Law. Pearson Education.
IOs and states play a critical role in maintaining world peace and security. The United Nations (UN), in particular, is the centerpiece of global governance with respect to the maintenance of world peace. The UN provides general guidelines for all the states on how to solve potential conflicts and maintain international o...
Before we delve deeper into this topic, it is imperative to properly provide a definition of sovereignty and lay down some foundation on this topic. There are four different definitions of sovereignty – international legal sovereignty, Westphalia sovereignty, domestic sovereignty and interdependence sovereignty. International legal sovereignty deals with “the practices associated with mutual recognition, usually between territorial entities that have formal juridical independence” (Krasner 4). The main definition of sovereignty that this paper will use is the ...