Humanitarian Intervention in the Global Age: When Something Must Be Done

The issue of our ability to act justly and wisely when human beings in other nations suffer, is back in the public eye because of the twin challenges of Iraq and Darfur. The extensive Security Council debates that led up to the Iraq invasion seem to have left the international community unprepared for the chaos that has followed. In Darfur, we are again witness to atrocities on a massive scale while conducting painstaking negotiations. Have we once again prioritised humanity, or are we just obeying the law?