Evaluating Forcible Humanitarian Intervention in the Case of Genocide

When confronted with one of the most terrible atrocities the world has seen, we often see differing reactions from the international community. Genocide has long been a difficult topic to grapple with due to its gruesome nature and its conflicts with sovereignty. Many nations believe to intervene would be to step on the national sovereignty of the country in question, while others believe that in ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) we are obligated to intervene in the name of peacekeeping and preservation of life. What remains to be evaluated is the application of the debate for and against humanitarian intervention in such cases. Through research involving personal memoirs from key decision makers, historical accounts of the time, personal interviews, and national laws and treaties, the purpose of this research aims to discover whether the critics of such intervention bear true when responding to the brutality of genocide