HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION AND HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION: LEGAL AND ETHICAL DILEMMAS

Abstract

Humanitarian intervention as a form of use of military force undertaken against a sovereign state in а case of flagrant violations of fundamental human rights of its citizens, is one of the most controversial issues in the international relations that opens a series of legal and ethical dilemmas. The issues that dominate in the debate on humanitarian intervention are related to its legality versus its justification, and are reduced primarily to the following dilemma: Should the international community act with military force in a case of evident violations of international human rights law or should it be treated as an issue that falls exclusively under the internal affairs of the state? This fundamental question is also complemented by the following: What intensity should the violations of human rights be, to influence over or derogate the state sovereignty? The practice of undertaken humanitarian interventions has also raised the following dilemma: Whether the use of military force can be justified when the humanitarian intervention is undertaken without a decision by the UN Security Council?

This paper is not intended to resolve all existing dilemmas, but to make an appropriate contribution to the debate on humanitarian intervention, as well as to identify the issues that are still open and to address the further discussions on this topic.