How Humanitarianism Went to War

Conor Foley: The Thin Blue Line: How Humanitarianism Went to War Conor Foley has been a humanitarian aid worker in over a dozen conflict zones, including Kosovo, Afghanistan and northern Uganda. His latest book traces the development of the doctrine of humanitarian intervention and how its been ... More

Conor Foley: The Thin Blue Line: How Humanitarianism Went to War Conor Foley has been a humanitarian aid worker in over a dozen conflict zones, including Kosovo, Afghanistan and northern Uganda. His latest book traces the development of the doctrine of humanitarian intervention and how its been used to justify the use of force by powerful states. Its called The Thin Blue Line: How Humanitarianism Went to War. Well, I think over the last ten years there has been a move towards a militarization of humanitarian interventions in two quite different ways. Firstly, I think there will be cases where the only way in which you can stop suffering, in which you can save peoples lives, is through military intervention. And we see UN-authorized peacekeeping missions in about twenty countries at the moment. The biggest one is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But at the same time, particularly, as you said, in the run-up to Iraq, they, George Bush and Tony Blair, have been using humanitarian arguments to justify regime change on human rights grounds. About ten years ago, Tony Blair came to the United States and made a speech where he outlined this new doctrine and where he said it was no longer necessary to have UN authorization to invade another country. This was the time of the Kosovo conflict. And since then, there has been a huge crisis for us as humanitarian aid workers, because we work often in conflict zones alongside troops, but were also increasingly being identified as part of occupation forces. And certainly in Afghanistan, where Ive spent much of a couple of years working, weve become increasingly seen as part of that occupation force. Less

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Added Feb 15, 2009  

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