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Humanitarian issues and agencies as triggers for international military action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2010

Adam Roberts
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Résumé

À plusieures reprises depuis la fin de la guerre froide, les gouvernements et les organisations intergouvernementales ont justifié, notamment à travers le Conseil de sécurité, la menace ou le recours à la force par le biais d'arguments à caractère «humanitaire». Trois types de violations de normes humanitaires ont été régulièrement invoqués pour déclencher une intervention par la force, soit dans le cadre d'un conflit armé en cours, soit contre un régime brutal : atteintes graves à la vie de la population civile, refus d'autoriser des actions d'assistance à une population dans le besoin et violence exercée à l'encontre du personnel d'organisations humanitaires. Après avoir passé en revue différentes interventions ayant impliqué l'usage de la force, l'auteur examine la position des États et des organisations internationales, notamment les Nations Unies. La question de la légitimité d'un recours à des arguments humanitaires pour justifier l'usage de la force reste cependant posée. L'auteur est convaincu quʼa l'avenir, «l'humanitaire» jouera un rôle plus important que par le passé dans les considérations relatives à l'usage de la force. Il souhaite une réflexion approfondie à ce sujet.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 82 , Issue 839: Humanitaire action and prevention/Action humanitaire et prévention , September 2000 , pp. 673 - 698
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 2000

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References

1 SC Res. 688 (5. April 1991).

2 See e.g. SC Res. 758 (8 June 1992); SC Res. 761 (29 June 1992), and SC Res. 770 (13 August 1992), this last adopted explicitly under Chapter VII.

3 SC Res. 781 (9 October 1992).

4 SC Res. 819 (16 April 1993); SC Res. 824 (6 May 1993), and SC Res. 836 (4 June 1993), the last two adopted explicitly under Chapter VII.

5 SC Res. 794(3 December 1992), adopted under Chapter VII.

6 SC Res. 814 (26 March 1993), adopted under Chapter VII.

7 SC Res. 918 (17 May 1994), only part of which was adopted under Chapter VII.

8 SC Res. 925 (8 June 1994).

9 SC Res. 929 (22 June 1994), adopted under Chapter VII. The humanitarian objectives to which it referred were those set out previously in SC Res. 925 (1994), and also in SC Res. 918 (1994).

10 SC Res. 940 (31 July 1994), adopted under Chapter VII.

11 SC Res. 975 (30 January 1995), provided for UNMIH to take over certain specific powers that had been accorded to the MNF in Haiti by SC Res. 940 (31 July 1994).

12 SC Res. 1101 (28 March 1997), adopted under Chapter VII. See also SC Res. 1114 (19 June 1997), deciding that the operation in Albania was to be limited to a period of 45 days from 28 June 1997.

13 SC Res. 1199 (23 September 1998), adopted under Chapter VII.

14 SC Res. 1203 (24 October 1998), adopted under Chapter VII.

15 SC Res. 1244 (10 June 1999), adopted under Chapter VII.

16 SC Res. 1264 (15 September 1999), adopted under Chapter VII.

17 SC Res. 1272 (25 October 1999), adopted under Chapter VII.

18 SC Res. 1270 (22 October, 1999), adopted under Chapter VII.

19 SC Res. 1289 (7 February 2000), adopted under Chapter VII.

20 SC Res. 1199 (23 September 1998), adopted under Chapter VII.

21 Dr Jakob Kellenberger (President of the ICRC), “Humanitarian challenges in the midst of war”, address at Wilton Park Conference, May 15–19, 2000, text as distributed at conference, p. 6.

22 “Difficulty of providing military support for humanitarian operations while ensuring impartiality focus of Security Council debate”, UN Press Release SC/6371, 21 May 1997.

23 Report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, UN Doc. S/1999/957 (8 September 1999), para. 3. There are similarly negative views of implementation in paras. 2, 7, 12, 13, and 21.

24 Ibid., recommendation 39.

25 Ibid., recommendation 40. This report led promptly to the passing of SC Res. 1265 (17 September 1999) on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

26 Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to General Assembly resolution 53/35: The Fall of Srebrenica, UN Doc. A/54/549 (15 November 1999), para. 490.

27 Report of the Independent Inquiry into the Actions of the United Nations during the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda, attached to UN Doc. 8/1999/1257 (16 December 1999), pp. 50/51.

28 Secretary-General's Bulletin: “Observance by United Nations Forces of International Humanitarian Law”, entry into force 12 August 1999, UN Doc. ST/SGB/1999/13 (6 August 1999).