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UN 'must get better at humanitarian intervention'

The principle of state sovereignty must yield to the international community's responsibility to protect when countries are unable or unwilling to prevent their people from coming to harm, according to UN University Senior Vice Rector Ramesh Thakur.

Ramesh Thakur

Speaking during the UN Memorial Conference on Rwanda Genocide, Thakur said that humanitarian intervention was a persistent and continuing challenge. The goal was not to wage war on a State but to protect victims of atrocities, he said.  

"The United Nations is the only authority to override national sovereignty," Thakur said. "The urgent task is not to evade the United Nations, but to make it work better."

If the UN persisted in proving itself inadequate to the task of dealing with humanitarian emergencies, others would act causing further damage to the UN's authority.

"The choice is between ad hoc or rules-based intervention and unilateral or multilateral intervention, Thakur said. "To be effective, intervention must be legitimate and to be legitimate it must conform to international law. To conform to international law, intervention must conform to the United Nations Charter." 

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