Doctrine and practice of humanitarian interventions

Abstract

Humanitarian intervention lies at the center of contradictory relations between the principle of state sovereignty and the responsibility to protect human rights. Whereas some theorists define humanitarian interventions as violation of the basic principle of international law and relations, that is the non-intervention principle, and other theorists see humanitarian interventions as the legal and legitimate way of protecting the security of all humanity in the world. The purpose of this study is to contend that the international community has the responsibility to intervene to prevent humanitarian crises. The emerging norm of “responsibility to protect” is getting wider acceptance and support among the scholars in the literature; although no consensus on the legitimacy of humanitarian interventions has been achieved so far. This research also attempts to clarify that the legality and legitimacy of humanitarian interventions is limited to the cases of threats to international peace and security and where there is prior authorization by the United Nations Security Council based on the Charter.