Suzette Sandoz: “A war is never legitimate”
Suzette Sandoz is a former Liberal Party representative from canton Vaud.
She is currently a professor at the University of Lausanne, where she teaches, among other subjects, family law.
swissinfo: Is there a valid reason for going to war?
Is there ever a good reason for going to war? For me, there is a right to defend oneself when you are attacked; otherwise a war is never legitimate. There is no just war.
swissinfo: Has the United Nations lost its credibility?
I don’t know whether the UN ever had any credibility when it came to conflicts. I think the United Nations has never prevented a war.
It has, however, made war “legitimate” in some cases, as happened in Kuwait. But it has never stopped a conflict, and has been used in the past by a major power to legitimise armed intervention. This isn’t the case this time round, but the UN hasn’t been able to prevent it.
swissinfo-interview: Chantal Nicolet (translation: Scott Capper)
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