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Chasing the Frontier in Humanitarian Intervention Law: The Case for Aequitas ad Bellum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2015

Colin SEOW
Colin SEOW*
Affiliation:
Supreme Court, Singaporecolin_seow@supcourt.gov.sg
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Abstract

The question whether humanitarian intervention may ever be lawfully carried out unilaterally outside the scope of Chapter VII of the UN Charter has captured the interest of many for years. Faced with legal formalist arguments under the UN Charter, those otherwise favouring the idea of humanitarian intervention often retreat into an apologist stance by conceding too quickly the lack of cogent legal justifications therefor, preferring instead to rely on moral and ethical reasoning. The doctrine of Responsibility to Protect, while seemingly promising when first mooted in 2001, has since effectively been rendered obsolete as a justification for unilateral humanitarian intervention following the UN World Summit in 2005. By examining the role that equity plays in Article 38(1)(c) of the ICJ Statute, this paper advances the view that an aequitas ad bellum exists in international law that, under certain strict conditions, enables unilateral humanitarian intervention to be lawfully carried out.

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Articles
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Asian Journal of International Law , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , July 2016 , pp. 294 - 325
Copyright
Copyright © Asian Journal of International Law 2015 

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Footnotes

*

Assistant Registrar, Supreme Court of Singapore. LLB (National University of Singapore); LLM (Harvard University). The author would like to register his gratitude to Professor Gabriella Blum for her comments on an earlier draft of this paper. The views expressed in this paper are the author’s personal views and do not in any way represent the views of the Supreme Court of Singapore. Any error in the paper is solely the author’s.

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44. International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, “The Responsibility to Protect” (December 2001), online: Responsibility to Protect <http://responsibilitytoprotect.org/ICISS%20Report.pdf>.

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55. Arguing using law, those in favour of justifying humanitarian intervention might claim that gross violations of human rights such as genocide and mass murders carried out by a sovereign state amount to breaches of erga omnes obligations in international law, thereby giving rise to a right of the international community to react remedially. However, this approach too appears to face the legalistic obstacle posed in art. 2(4), read with art. 2(7) and Chapter VII, of the UN Charter.

56. Some writers have described this approach as a “turn to ethics”: see KOSKENNIEMI, Martti, “‘The Lady Doth Protest Too Much’: Kosovo, and the Turn to Ethics in International Law” (2002) 65 The Modern Law Review 159CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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58. Such a paradigm of how international law may be shaped has sometimes been described as “progress through illegality” or “illegal international law reform”. See BUCHANAN, Allen, “Reforming the International Law of Humanitarian Intervention” in J.L. HOLZGREFE and Robert O. KEOHANE, eds., Humanitarian Intervention: Ethical, Legal, and Political Dilemmas (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), at 134Google Scholar; Burke, , supra note 37 at 32Google Scholar.

59. Rossi, supra note 2 at chapter 6, referring inter alia to the Chorzów Factory (Indemnity) case, the European Commission of the Danube case, the Arbitral Award Made by the King of Spain case, the Serbian and Brazilian Loans cases, the Barcelona Traction case, the North Sea Continental Shelf cases, the Nottebohm case, the Legal Status of Eastern Greenland case, the Diversion of Water from the River Meuse case, and many more. See also MIYOSHI, Masahiro, Considerations of Equity in the Settlement of Territorial and Boundary Disputes (Boston, MA: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1993)Google Scholar.

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72. See e.g. Cobbe v. Yeoman’s Row Management Ltd [2008] 1 W.L.R. 1752 (proprietary estoppel); Attorney-General for Hong Kong v. Reid [1994] 1 A.C. 324 (imposing a constructive trust over bribes received by a fiduciary).

73. SNYDER, R. Neil, “Natural Law and Equity” in Rene CASSIN and Ralph A. NEWMAN, eds., Equity in the World’s Legal Systems: A Comparative Study Dedicated to René Cassin, Whose Life Has Been Consecrated to the Illumination of the Fundamental Principles of Justice (Brussels: Bruylant, 1973)Google Scholar. Such a view is consonant with Aristotle’s formulation of equity under which “equity was considered an extension of natural justice”: see Rossi, supra note 2 at 23.

74. M. DRAKOPOULOU, “Law & the Sacred: Equity, Conscience and the Art of Judgment as Ius Aequi et Boni” Law Text Culture (January 2000), online: Law Text Culture <http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1037&context=ltc>.

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76. Rossi, supra note 2 at chapter 2.

77. Ibid., at 24.

78. Ibid., at 25.

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82. Ibid., at 37–8.

83. Ibid.

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85. NEWMAN, Ralph A., “Equity in Comparative Law” (1968) 17 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 807 at 830Google Scholar. See also Rossi, , supra note 2 at 39Google Scholar.

86. Such as the French Civil Code, the Swiss Civil Code, the Italian Civil Code, the Colombian Civil Code, the Ecuadorian Civil Code, the Honduran Civil Code, and the Puerto Rican Civil Code: see Newman, supra note 85 at 831.

87. Such as the Austrian Civil Code, the Peruvian Civil Code, the Chilean Civil Code, the El Salvadorian Civil Code, the Portuguese Civil Code, the Argentine Civil Code, the Guatemalan Civil Code, the Mexican Civil Code, the Spanish Civil Code, the Cuban Civil Code, the Paraguayan Civil Code, the Uruguayan Civil Code, the German Civil Code, the Panamanian Civil Code, the Brazilian Civil Code, and the Venezuelan Civil Code, etc.: see Cheng, , supra note 60 at 400–408Google Scholar.

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95. Ibid.

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98. Ibid., at 185. For further reading, see also MACCORMACK, Geoffrey, “‘Equity’ in Qing Judicial Reasoning as Illustrated from Decisions in Homicide Cases” (2011) 41 Hong Kong Law Journal 813Google Scholar.

99. Burke, Ibid., also notes that the legal system in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, formerly a British colony until 1997 when the British transferred sovereignty over it to the Republic of China, is very much still based on the British common-law system “incorporate[ing] a large corpus of equitable decisions and dicta, virtually identical with those applicable in Britain”.

100. Ibid., at 186.

101. Ibid.

102. For a historical perspective on this area, see PHANG Boon Leong, Andrew, From Foundation to Legacy: The Second Charter of Justice (Singapore: Singapore Academy of Law, 2006)Google Scholar.

103. The Civil Code of the Arab Republic of Egypt, online: University of Minnesota <http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/research/Egypt/Civil%20Law.pdf>.

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107. [1929] P.C.I.J. (ser. A) No. 20 (12 July).

108. Ibid., at [80].

109. [1969] I.C.J. Rep. 3 at [30].

110. [1998] I.C.J. Rep. 275 at [57]. For other similar cases, see OVCHAR, Alexander, “Estoppel in the Jurisprudence of the ICJ: A Principle Promoting Stability Threatens to Undermine It” (2009) 21 Bond Law Review 1 at 18–19Google Scholar; WHITE, Justice Margaret, “Equity-A General Principle of Law Recognised by Civilised Nations?” (2004) 4 Queensland University of Technology Law Journal 103 at 111–112Google Scholar.

111. [1984] I.C.J. Rep. 392.

112. Ibid., at [50]–[51].

113. [1997] I.C.J. Rep. 7.

114. [1951] I.C.J. 117 (18 January).

115. Ibid., at 139.

116. [1962] I.C.J. 6 (15 June).

117. Ibid., at 23.

118. [1937] P.C.I.J. (ser. A/B) No. 70 (28 June).

119. Ibid., at [311].

120. Ibid., at [321].

121. Ibid., at [323]–[326].

122. Ibid., at [322] (citations in original omitted).

123. See e.g. Rossi, , supra note 2 at 163Google Scholar; White, supra note 110 at 113; GRAUER, Christopher, “The Role of Equity in the Jurisprudence of the World Court” (1979) 37 University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review 101 at 103–106Google Scholar.

124. [1970] I.C.J. Rep. 3.

125. Ibid., at [92].

126. Ibid.

127. Ibid., at [100]–[101].

128. [1984] I.C.J. Rep. 392.

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130. Supra note 128 at 399–400. See further, Burke, , supra note 37 at 220–222Google Scholar.

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132. Burke, supra note 37.

133. Ibid., at 286.

134. Ibid., at 336.

135. Ibid., at 338.

136. Ibid., at 301.

137. Ibid., at 302. At 306, Burke wrote: “Equity exists … to fill the gaps (praeter legem) which exist within the legal structure in order to rectify manifest injustices that would otherwise occur.”

138. Ibid., at 310.

139. Ibid., at 314.

140. Ibid.

141. See accompanying text to supra note 128.

142. Burke, supra note 37 at 319.

143. Ibid., at 317.

144. Ibid., at 320.

145. See accompanying text to supra note 67.

146. Dworkin, supra note 57 at 225:

Law as integrity denies that statements of law are either the backward-looking factual reports of conventionalism or the forward-looking instrumental programs of legal pragmatism. It insists that legal claims are interpretive judgments and therefore combine backward- and forward-looking elements; they interpret contemporary legal practice seen as an unfolding political narrative.

147. Ibid., at 228–9. It should be noted, however, that Dworkin’s “chain novel” theory was expounded specifically in relation to how judges in the judiciary contribute to law as “a group of novelists writ[ing] a novel seriatim; each novelist in the chain interpret[ing] the chapters he has been given in order to write a new chapter, which is then added to what the next novelist receives, and so on”.

148. For an excellent explanation of the “jurisgenetic” theory of law developed by the late Robert Cover, see SNYDER, Franklin G., “Nomos, Narrative, and Adjudication: Toward a Jurisgenetic Theory of Law” (1999) 40 William & Mary Law Review 1623Google Scholar.

149. See e.g. FINNEMORE, Martha and SIKKINK, Kathryn, “International Norm Dynamics and Political Change” (1998) 52 International Organization 887CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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152. See accompanying text to supra notes 33–35.

153. In 1950, UN General Assembly Resolution A-RES-377(V), otherwise known as the “Uniting for Peace Resolution”, was adopted, which stated that:

[I]f the Security Council because of lack of unanimity of the permanent members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security in any case where there appears to be a threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression, the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately with a view to making appropriate recommendations to Members for collective measures, including in the case of a breach of the peace or act of aggression, the use of armed force when necessary, to maintain or restore international peace and security.

However, serious problems with this resolution have been discussed in MURPHY, Sean D., Humanitarian Intervention: The United Nations in an Evolving World Order (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996) at 300Google Scholar, one of which is that the reference to “international peace and security” in the resolution suggests that the situation contemplated by the UN General Assembly was effectively “a situation of international armed conflict” (emphasis added). This is in contradistinction to the humanitarian crisis paradigm that the international community is more frequently confronted with today, such as where there is no armed conflict of an international character involved in the humanitarian crisis at all (e.g. Syria).

154. Annan, supra note 1.

155. For the purposes of this paper, the distinction between a non liquet and a situation having too many competing norms is not of great significance. In fact, the two concepts may be compatible, particularly considering the nature of international law, because a non liquet often may be seen as a predicate to the rise of competing norms advocated by different norm entrepreneurs on the subject in question.

156. This, of course, is independent of the question of whether the individual states in the international community do in fact intervene, since the decision whether to carry out intervention may be affected by a variety of non-legal considerations in every state.

157. See accompanying text to supra note 134.

158. To the extent that Burke’s writing omits to provide any illumination in this regard, the equitable framework as argued by Burke is incomplete.

159. Supra note 128.

160. This is a well-established equitable principle that exemplifies equity’s preference for substance over form. See e.g. the English case of Walsh v. Lonsdale [1882] 21 Ch. D. 9.

161. For an excellent discussion on voluntarism in international law, see CASSESE, Antonio and WEILER, J.H.H., Change and Stability in International Law-Making (New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1988)CrossRefGoogle Scholar at chapter 2.

162. See e.g. Augusto CANÇADO TRINDADE, Antônio, “International Law for Humankind: Towards a New Jus Gentium (I): General Course on Public International Law”, in vol. 316, Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law (Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2005) at 45Google Scholar; DWORKIN, Ronald, “A New Philosophy for International Law” (2013) 41 Philosophy & Public Affairs 2CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

163. See accompanying text to supra note 151.

164. Art. 38(1)(c) of the ICJ Statute.

165. See accompanying text to supra notes 147–156.

166. For a brief account on NATO’s intervention in Kosovo, see e.g. THOMASHAUSEN, Sophie, Humanitarian Intervention in an Evolving World Order: The Cases of Iraq, Somalia, Kosovo and East Timor (Pretoria: Africa Institute of South Africa, 2002) at 88–116Google Scholar.

167. See “FULL TRANSCRIPT: President Obama’s Sept. 10 Speech on Syria” The Washington Post (10 September 2013), online: The Washington Post <http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/running-transcript-president-obamas-sept-10-speech-on-syria/2013/09/10/a8826aa6-1a2e-11e3-8685-5021e0c41964_story.html>.

168. See supra note 44.

169. Weiss, supra note 15 at 120.

170. Supra note 53.

171. Burke, , supra note 37 at 65Google Scholar. But some writers still doubt the correctness of such an interpretation. See e.g. Bellamy, supra note 13 at 162–4 and 166–7, referring, inter alia, to the Mitchell-Gingrich Report: see American Interests and UN Reform, Report of the Task Force on the United Nations, United States Institute of Peace (2005). See also Bannon, supra note 54 at 1159, arguing that the World Summit “fails to address whether the United Nations is the only international actor that can exercise the responsibility to protect, or merely the preferred actor”.

172. Address at Georgetown University on 23 February 1999; U.N. Doc. SG/SM/6901, P.K.O. 80.

173. 2005 World Summit, supra note 53 at [139].

174. Ibid.

175. See Bannon, supra note 54.

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177. PAYANDEH, Mehrdad, “The Concept of International Law in the Jurisprudence of H.L.A. Hart” (2011) 21 European Journal of International Law 967 at 971Google Scholar:

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178. See generally MAY, Larry, Limiting Leviathan: Hobbes on Law and International Affairs (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

179. Quotation reproduced in ibid., at 193 (emphasis added).

180. Ibid., at 189.

181. Dworkin, , supra note 176 at 17–20Google Scholar (emphasis added).

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184. See “Russia’s Humanitarian Actions vs Western Military Interventionism: Tskhinval is not Tripoli, Crimea is not Kosovo” Sputniknews (21 March 2014), online: Sputniknews <http://sputniknews.com/voiceofrussia/2014_03_21/Russias-humanitarian-actions-vs-Western-military-interventionism-Tskhinval-is-not-Tripoli-Crimea-is-not-Kosovo-1878/>.

185. Some writers have likened “excuse” to the domestic criminal-law doctrine of mitigation: see Franck, , supra note 34 at 179Google Scholar; Burke, , supra note 37 at 39Google Scholar.

186. Drakopoulou, supra note 74.

187. See also Rossi, supra note 2; Cheng, supra note 60 at 400; Burke, supra note 37 at chapter 3.

188. S/RES/1973 (2011). UN Security Council Resolution 1973 S/RES/1973 (2011) was preceded by UN Security Council Resolution 1970 S/RES/1970 (2011), where the UN Security Council deplored “the gross and systematic violation of human rights, including the repression of peaceful demonstrators, expressing deep concern at the deaths of civilians, and rejecting unequivocally the incitement to hostility and violence against the civilian population made from the highest level of the Libyan government”.

189. Modeme, supra note 18 at 7–9. It should, however, be pointed out that this reasoning is in contrast with the views expressed by the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in Prosecutor v. Dusko Tadić aka “Dule”, Case No. I.T. 94-1-AR72, Decision on the Defence Motion for Interlocutory Appeal on Jurisdiction (I.C.T.Y.) (2 October 1995) at [30].

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