Preventive humanitarian intervention: The moral basis of engaging in a war to prevent massive basic human rights violations and its legalization via an international institutional proposal

Current international law prohibits the international community from intervening militarily in a country's internal affairs, even in order to put an end to massive basic human rights violations such as genocide. However, such internal conflicts often lead to a decrease in overall global stability, and, if international law's main purpose is to maintain global stability then it might be required to change international law's position on humanitarian intervention. A cosmopolitan approach to international law, which takes the protection of human rights to be the main goal of any international legal system, claims that if a state fails to protect its citizens or if it actively violates their basic human rights, the state's right to have its sovereignty respected no longer applies.; Taking the protection of human rights seriously may also mean that international law ought to sanction interventions to prevent such violations from beginning to take place---this would mean recognizing preventive humanitarian intervention as a type of military intervention that the international community could avail itself of when indicated.; Institutionalizing preventive humanitarian intervention within a strong international institution will ensure that interventions will be resorted to appropriately, consistently, and with proper care. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...