Answer 108

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Question 108

Are countries such as the USA and groups such the EEC morally obliged to use force of some kind or another to prevent human rights abuses as defined by the UN Charter on Human Rights?

It begs the question, "obligated by who?"

Morality must be freely and knowingly chosen. A moral obligation, like a moral commandment, is a contradiction in terms.

(Flamers please note: I have not addressed whether it is right or wrong to use force to prevent human rights violations.) (john caballero #225)

Morally obligated? I don't think so. But I think they are morally justified in doing so, in the same way as anyone is morally justified in preventing an assault. (Al Klein)

Morally, no. Legally, the USA has no inherent jurisdiction over any other country. The EEC should have jurisdiction and legal obligation over its own members in those matters. I think that morals apply to individuals, not to organizations, which should be guided by logic as much as possible. (Roger Burks)

Hmm...this is a difficult one. I think the US should not intervene unless directed to do so by the UN. It's not precisely our place to step in, unless we're also willing to take over other countries to "fix" their problems. Otherwise, we do a half-assed job.

Now, if the US were to refuse all commerce with any country engaging in such abuses, it might not be a bad idea. However, we would have to be prepared to cut a lot of ties to do so. (Dan McEwen #1617)

Ultimately, yes, but only as a last resort. I'm generally a pacifist, and believe that the only proper time to use violence is to defend yourself from an attacker. If the USA doesn't like the way a country treats its people, then it should try to persuade them to change. Diplomatic missions, trade sanctions, etc. are the place to start, then convincing other countries to join us in a trade embargo, etc. If none of that works and the country is seriously mistreating people, then using force to stop them is called for.

I had a hard time justifying that conclusion to myself. I tend to see the government as being too big, meddling in things it shouldn't. The USA is *not* a police force, and shouldn't interfere with internal workings of other countries just because we don't like them. On the other hand, I realize there is a line that a country shouldn't cross. Genocide, for instance, is a situation where I think it would be wrong to not step in and stop the injustice. Just where the line is, how badly must a country treat some of its people before we should step in, is where I get bogged down. I don't have any easy answers. (Carl Funk #1229)

Yes. But america needs to learn that this can not be done with high level bombings. You need to get down and dirty. This will mean some loss of american lives, but this is the price you have to pay.

I am still disgusted by the way we handled Kosova. We should have had ground troops there from the start.

Also many of the innocent people killed, where killed due to the stupid order that all american planes must bomb from high altitude to avoid casualties. This did not allow the pilots to properly identify the targets. Politics betrayed the pilots and the people they where trying to help protect.

I believe that there should be an international response force that can go in with full support in the air, ground and sea. This force should be able to respond within 48hrs to any incident, anywhere in the world. Maybe then we will be able to prevent such human loss in the future.

A pet peeve whilst on this subject. My government (UK) moans about Milosovich but fawns over the Chinese. This after they stated that they would have a moral foreign policy. I think this government needs to seriously re-consider its attitude. (Alan Ferris #1211)

No, and otherwise they should invade half of the world immediately. Which is impossible, as you might be able to realise. I suggest both clean up their own record first. You Americans should abolish that ugly death penalty, for instance.

We are selective in intervening, yes, and probably for the better. A racial war in Europe can no longer be tolerated, but when it happens in Africa it can be. The reason is that the situation there is of no threat to us, that intervening there is not furthering our economic or political interests, costs a whole lot more, has less chance of success and far less chance of creating a stabile ground after that.

The European Economic Community was a economic community which has transformed into the European Union, short EU, the correct term for the current community, which is slowly taking the form of a confederation, or at least that's the idea. (DJ Nozem #1465)

Tough one, tough one. If we intercede, we're giving our humanistic outlook "sacred" status. There are other paradigms. Hitler's glorious thousand year Reich is one. A less malignant one (in our view) would be the Calvinist idea that the object of life is work, not happiness or fulfillment. China feels that an authoritarian state is the best way to build a properly orderly society, and if a few flowers fall that some foreign devils who have different paradigms feel should not have fallen, that's their problem, not China's. Singapore is mostly Chinese. One of my friends was there lately and heard "Just because we speak English, that doesn't mean we're a European city." When the U.S.A. complained of human rights abuses there, Singapore replied "We do not wish Singapore to resemble New York." It's hard to argue with that response. When one does get a Hitler or Stalin, it seems so horrible from our viewpoint that we feel we have a natural duty to intercede. Much as I hate to come to the defense of Hitler, I can't escape the conviction that everything, even this, is relative. That doesn't mean I wouldn't want to get rid of Hitler. It just means I couldn't give an absolute defense for doing so. I write this after checking out some CD's of Gideon Klein at the music store today. He might have been one of the great composers of our age, but he was gassed at age 26 in the concentration camp at Theresienstadt. (Rumplestiltskin)

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