The Legal Status of Humanitarian Intervention

This study is an attempt to clarify the legal status of humanitarian intervention under international law today. Despite the long history of legal discourse on the matter, there is no consistent consensus as regards the legality of humanitarian intervention under international law. The opponents of formally acknowledging a right of humanitarian intervention often refer to the risk of abuse of the action and in view of the many so-called humanitarian interventions which have been carried out for reasons of self-interest, this argument can be easily understood. Yet, others argue that situations of grave and systematic human rights violations do justify an intervention for humanitarian reasons and that such situations concerns the international community as a whole. Indeed, during the second half of the 20th century the development within human rights law shows a clear tendency towards a greater international responsibility. Still, after having studied relevant legislation, case law and legal doctrine, it is my view that legality of humanitarian intervention is restricted to situations where there is prior authorization by the United Nations Security Council. Individual states or a community of states cannot without such prior authorization justify a humanitarian intervention on legal grounds under international law today. The following pages will portray why