Sexta-feira, Maio 23, 2008

Intervenção Humanitária no Myanmar ou a Irresponsabilidade da "Responsabilidade de Proteger"

Aqui fica um excerto do artigo de Clifford Orwin sobre aquilo a que se poderia chamar a insustentável ligeireza da "responsabilidade de proteger", sem dúvida mais um grande momento do humanitarismo contemporâneo.
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Bernard Kouchner, the enfant terrible of the humanitarian movement turned Foreign Minister of France, has urged the UN Security Council to in­voke the responsibility to pro­tect. This would put Myanmar’s generals on notice that they could face air drops of relief supplies without their authori­zation or even armed interven­tion if they continue to obstruct the relief effort. Wha­tever we may think of the pru­dence of such a measure, there is no doubt that the doctrine supports it – and even, we might think, requires it. For if the responsibility to protect ex­tends even to armed interven­tion as a last resort to curb obstinate abuses such as those of the junta, mustn’t we put the violators on notice that we mean business?
Yes – unless, as seems likely, we don’t. Ramesh Thakur, cur­rently a fellow at the Centre for International Governance In­novation in Waterloo, Ont., and an original architect of the re­sponsibility to protect, finds Mr. Kouchner’s zeal untimely. He has argued against sabre-rattling, promoting instead continued reliance on diploma­cy: “If we are not prepared to [march in with the marines] is it not better to avoid such lan­guage from the start?” Point well taken. Only thing is, considering that “our” (i.e., the UN’s) unwillingness to march is clearly chronic (first Darfur, now Myanmar), doesn’t Mr. Thakur’s argument suggest the UN should have “avoided such language at the start” by eschewing the responsibility to protect in the first place? Is there any spectacle more con­temptible than that of weak justice
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Clifford Orwin, "A responsibility, unshouldered", The Globe and Mail (15.05.2008)

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