Concept of Humanitarian Intervention in Contemporary International Law: A Critical Analysis

Abstract

Humanitarian intervention is depicted as a controversial yet significant portion of international law. Although it has not been endorsed anywhere in the UN Charter, the world has experienced many such interventions conducted with the paramount objective to prevent gross human rights violation. There is a conflict of opinion among scholars concerning the legal status, validity and specifically the true nature of humanitarian intentions behind this notion. Nonetheless, the world has experienced many interventions based on humanitarian grounds. Majority of the precedent of such intervention suffers from selectivity and is accused of political biases. Even the international community raised finger over it viewing its inevitable and alarming clash with the sovereignty of the intervened state. Such inconclusiveness encircling this concept accorded room for R2P to develop as a new concept with wider prospects to fruitfully substitute humanitarian intervention in near future. Moreover, frequent exercise of such unauthorized intervention imposes serious threat to the current crisis management mechanism. To address all these concerns, R2P needs to be developed to a standard standpoint with a structured framework to uphold the objective of the prohibition on the use of force in the UN Charter and to maintain harmony with sovereignty of states as well.