Guerre juste et guerre sainte au regard des droits de l'homme

The permanence of conflict, and the resurgence of holy war today, belie the condemnations of war by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Charter of the United Nations. They provoke questions about derogations from these principles to prevent violations of human dignity and to consider a military intervention in reference to human rights. First of all, the ambiguity of humanitarian or military intervention needs clarification; then a priori objections against justifiable military intervention postpone its interpretation indefinitely. Only justice may legitimate armed interventions to protect the innocent by disarming their attacker. It requires a re-understanding of sovereignty as the responsibility to protect. From this, preventive military intervention remains unjustifiable. Nevertheless, in the case of an effective and imminent threat, the absolute and immediately necessity to protect oneself or another does legitimate first action as an ultimate defence under contradiction, as shown by the defence against the holy war of terrorism. But it requires systematic investigation concerning the specific situations and purposes implied. So, only human rights can legitimate military intervention, according to this rethinking of the criteria, and only to protect oneself and others; and the implementation of such an intervention, in complex situations, requires extreme prudence and considerable wisdom.