Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 April 2010
• International humanitarian law cannot serve as a basis for armed intervention in response to grave violations of its provisions; the use of force is governed by the United Nations Charter.
• It is not for the ICRC to pronounce on the legality or legitimacy of such intervention.
• International humanitarian law applies when intervention forces are engaged in hostilities with one or more of the parties to the conflict.
• The ICRC seeks to promote the term “armed intervention in response to grave violations of human rights and of international humanitarian law”.
1 Abiew, Francis Kofi, The Evolution of the Doctrine and Practice of Humanitarian Intervention, Kluwer Law International, 1999, p. 31.Google Scholar
2 Humanitarian Intervention, Legal and Political Aspects, Danish Institute of International Affairs, 1999, p. 11.Google Scholar
3 Case concerning Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America), Merits, Judgment, I.C.). Reports 1986, para. 243.
4 Ibid., para 268.