The Constitutive Act of the African Union (AU) provides for the right of the continental body to intervene in the face of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. According to its formulation, Article 4(h) intervention entails military force, which is triggered when a target state fails to discharge its duty to protect its population from mass atrocities. ...

While the legality of intervention without Security Council authorisation is still debatablein international law, over-reliance on military intervention increases the risk of too much focus on reactive rather than proactive strategies. If the thresholds for Article 4(h) intervention – like those of the responsibility to protect – are serious international crimes su...