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HUMAN RIGHTS & HUMANTIARIAN INTERVENTION “Human Rights define Human Security” Bertrand Ramcharan Mr. Bertrand Ramcharan, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Under-Secretary General, points out that international human rights norms define the meaning of human security. The major breakthrough in the field came in 1948 with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The declaration provides basic guarantees regarding food, health, education, housing, protection of the family, democracy, participation, the rule of law and protection against enslavement, torture, cruel or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The declaration is followed up by the following conventions: The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (16 December 1966) The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (16 December 1966) International Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (1979) International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (21 December 1965) The Convention on the Rights of the Child (20 November 1989) The Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (18 December 1990) Humanitarian Intervention is a concept closely linked to human security and the protection of Human Rights. Sean D. Murphy defines the concept in the following way: “Threat or use of force by a state, group of states, or international organization primarily for the purpose of protecting the nationals of the target state from widespread deprivations of internationally recognized human rights” – Sean D. Murphy. Humanitarian Intervention: The United Nations in an Evolving World Order. Military operations or the lack of military intervention, with the aim of protecting certain groups within population, in Somalia, Haiti, Liberia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo and Sierra Leone, has led to a heated international debate about the responsibility of the international community to protect people, or groups of people, that are attacked and suffer without their state taking sufficient responsibility for them. The concept is often referred to as Responsibility to Protect (R2P). Links: UN: www.ohchr.org, www.unicef.org, www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/ EU: http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/human_rights/index_en.htm International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty: http://www.iciss-ciise.gc.ca/ International Peace Institute’s R2P Program: http://www.ipacademy.org/programs/past-program/programslist/2.html Book Recommendations: Walzer, Michael. Just and unjust wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations. New York: Basic Books, 1977. Murphy, Sean D. Humanitarian Intervention: The United Nations in an Evolving World Order University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia,1996 Chesterman, Simon. Just war or just peace? Humanitarian Intervention and International Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Holtzgrefe, J. L. and Robert O. Keohane. Humanitarian Intervention. Ethical, Legal and Political Dilemmas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.