Humanitarianism and Responsibility in Discourse and Practice

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).