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Humanitarianism and Responsibility in Discourse and Practice

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Human Rights Protection in Global Politics

Part of the book series: Global Issues Series ((GLOISS))

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Abstract

On 17 March 2011, the United Nations Security Council (2011a) adopted a historic resolution authorizing the use of ‘all necessary measures […] to protect civilians’ in Libya. Speaking on behalf of a government that had been among the most vocal advocates of military intervention, the French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé (United Nations Security Council 2011b) implored his fellow Council members: ‘Every hour and day that goes by increasing the burden of responsibility on our shoulders. If we are careful not to act too late, the Security Council will have the distinction of having ensured in Libya law prevails over force, democracy over dictatorship and freedom over oppression.’ Speaking a year later about another of the Arab Spring’s bloodier conflicts, Jordanian Interior Minister Ghaleb Zu’bi (Neimat 2013) pledged not bombs but safe haven for the thousands pouring over the border from Syria. ‘Jordan has a humanitarian [responsibility] to Syrian refugees and cannot turn its back on them.’ That same year, the British-based nongovernmental organization Oxfam decried the failure to help victims of the latest Somali famine: ‘There has been a catastrophic breakdown in the world’s collective responsibility to act (Oxfam International 2011).’ In 2010, after the Haitian earthquake, George Clooney, actor and organizer of the ‘Hope for Haiti Now’ telethon, told millions of viewers, ‘We all have a lot of responsibility to look out for people that can’t look out for themselves’ (Viacom 2010).

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Authors
  1. Glenn Mitoma
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  2. Kerry Bystrom
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Glasgow, UK

    Kurt Mills (Senior Lecturer in International Human Rights) (Senior Lecturer in International Human Rights)

  2. University of Sussex, UK

    David Jason Karp (Lecturer in International Relations) (Lecturer in International Relations)

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© 2015 Glenn Mitoma and Kerry Bystrom

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Mitoma, G., Bystrom, K. (2015). Humanitarianism and Responsibility in Discourse and Practice. In: Mills, K., Karp, D.J. (eds) Human Rights Protection in Global Politics. Global Issues Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137463173_2

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