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Begin New Search Topic Humanitarian Intervention Publication Year within 25 Years

91. Historical Examples of Unauthorized Humanitarian Intervention

Author:
Julia Brower, Ryan Liss, Tina Thomas, and Jacob Victor
Publication Date:
08-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Legal Challenges, Yale Law School
Abstract:
In December 1971, India sent troops into what was at the time known as East Pakistan. For the preceding months, Pakistani forces had been engaged in a violent conflict with a Bangladeshi separatist group.1 The Indo-Pakistani conflict was sparked by the Bangladesh Liberation War, a conflict between the West Pakistanis and the East Pakistanis, who were mainly of Bengali ethnicity.2 In the 1970 Pakistani election, the East Pakistani Awami League secured a simple majority in the Parliament of Pakistan.3 The West Pakistani leadership, however, stalled in relinquishing power.4 The Awami League declared the independence of East Pakistan as Bangla Desh on April 10, 1971.5 West Pakistani forces engaged in violent attempts to end the insurrection, committing widespread atrocities against the Bengali population of East Pakistan.6 Over a million Bengalis were killed.7 And, an estimated 8 million refugees fled to India.8 In December 1971, fighting broke out between India and Pakistan when India sent armed troops into East Pakistan.9 U.N. debates over the conflict took on a distinctly Cold War tone, stalling any action on the part of the United Nations.10 The military conflict between India and Pakistan lasted only thirteen days before Pakistani forces in East Pakistan surrendered.11 By January 4, 1972, the Secretary-General was able to report that the cease-fire between the two states “appeared relatively stable.”12 As a result of India’s intervention, East Pakistan ultimately achieved independence and became modern-day Bangladesh.13 In justifying its unauthorized intervention, India framed the issue as mainly one of self-defense and regional security. Citing the millions of refugees flowing from East Pakistan into India, the Prime Minister of India wrote to the U.N. Secretary General that Pakistan’s actions “pose a serious threat to our security” and that the resulting military action taken against Pakistan was “entirely defensive.”14 The Indian Ambassador to the Security Council argued that Pakistan had committed a crime of “refugee aggression,” that is, its aggression came from the strain its actions placed on India’s social structure and finances.15 India also argued that it had a right to intervene in light of the humanitarian catastrophe engulfing East Pakistan. The Indian Ambassador to the U.N. claimed that India had “absolutely nothing but the purest of . . . intentions: to rescue the people of East Bengal from what they are suffering.”16 India also maintained that its authority to intervene to end the humanitarian catastrophe was based in part on the consent of Bangladeshi people, even though Bangladesh was not yet an independent state.17 In making this argument, India argued that the rule of self-determination might be applied to the Bengali people.18
Topic:
United Nations, Military Strategy, Legal Theory, and Humanitarian Intervention
Political Geography:
Pakistan, India, and Asia

92. Humanitarian Intervention as a ‘Responsibility to Protect’: An International Society Approach

Author:
Saban Kardas
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace
Institution:
Center for Foreign Policy and Peace Research
Abstract:
This article proposes to explain the post-Cold War practice of humanitarian intervention by drawing on the English School’s international society approach. It argues that although the sovereignty versus human rights debate traditionally was framed in dichotomized terms, the post-Cold War practice of humanitarian intervention illustrated the possibility of a via media approach to these competing normative claims. Post-Cold War developments regarding the place of the conventional norms of sovereignty and non-intervention on the one hand and the growing space for the protection of human rights on the other, have eased worries about the prospect for order in the international system and created a suitable environment for including of humanitarian intervention without jeopardizing that order. To contextualize this development, the article will argue that Hedley Bull’s discussion of such key terms as the international society, the centrality of states, the importance of norms, and normative change helps explain intervention in today’s world. By building on that framework, the article draws attention to the enabling and constraining factors highlighted by the international society approach, and as such, concludes that the English school suggests both promise and caution regarding the prospects for humanitarian intervention in modern international relations.
Topic:
Sovereignty, Humanitarian Intervention, International Community, Responsibility to Protect (R2P), and Non-Intervention
Political Geography:
Global Focus

93. Between Humanitarian Aid and Colonialism - The Case Study of French (Non) Intervention in Iraq and Mali.

Author:
Emin Eminagić and Viktoria Potapkina
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Case Study
Institution:
The Centre for Security Studies
Abstract:
Peacekeeping missions in today's public discourse are perceived as agents of neocolonialism, and thus seen as widely unpopular. Although one cannot simply assume that there are no reasons for international interventions in conflict areas, as a real need to protect and help the civilian population might exist, upon scrutinizing the foreign policies of some world powers one can witness elements that are none other than neocolonialist in nature. Nevertheless, it remains a sensitive topic, which depending on the prism of the viewer can be interpreted as neocolonial exploitation of resources and labor force, or, on the other hand, seen as stimulating the local economy and building of local capacities for a functioning state. This paper is designed as a comparative case study of France’s (non) involvement in two regions – Iraq in 2003 and Mali in 2013. The time frame of ten years allows for a retrospective analysis of the possible decisions influencing French politicians to make the decision to not intervene in Iraq. The case of Mali is a rather new event and thus requires immediate attention to understand the underlying reasons for military action. Such a case study presents an intriguing opportunity for comparison. In regards to the case of the intervention in Iraq, France had immediate economic interests in the country, however, it, to this day, remains the most vocal opponent of the intervention, regardless of the fact that a large number of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members participated in one way or another in the Operation Iraqi Freedom. In the case of Mali, France does not have any apparent economic interests in the region; however, it is the only NATO state carrying out the military operation in the country unilaterally as of writing of this paper. However it is not our intention to provide definitive answers on certain points of involvement and non-intervention, nor mark processes, but rather to provide a grassroot analysis on the the case study of Mali that would potentially best explain particular aspects of theoretical implications.
Topic:
Humanitarian Aid, Peacekeeping, Humanitarian Intervention, and Colonialism
Political Geography:
Iraq, France, and Mali

94. Drones in Our World, Part IV: Adapting a Warfighter

Author:
Whitney Grespin
Publication Date:
08-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
Aerial surveillance and remote sensing are nothing new in the world of combat reconnaissance, but they are new tools in the arsenal of the humanitarian relief and development communities. And they are rapidly evolving. Complex, disaster, and rapidly evolving environments all require the capability to promptly collect, analyze, and disseminate critical information that UAVs can gather and exploit in ways and quantities that other resources cannot rival.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Military Strategy, Drones, Humanitarian Intervention, and Conflict
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

95. Sudan at the Crossroads

Author:
Francis M. Deng
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
MIT Center for International Studies
Abstract:
There is a tendency in the outside world to see the tragedy in the Darfur region of the Sudan in isolation from the regional conflicts that have been proliferating in the country for a half cen- tury. These conflicts reflect an acute crisis of national identity that is both a cause of genocidal wars and a factor in the state’s indif- ference to the resulting humanitarian consequences. This explains the Sudanese government’s resistance to international provision of protection and assistance to the affected populations. The conflicts in the Sudan indicate a nation in painful search of itself, striving to be free from historical discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, and culture. It is, therefore, necessary to combine a suitable humanitarian response with solutions that go to the roots of the national identity crisis and address its stratifying implications.
Topic:
Nationalism, Humanitarian Intervention, Conflict, and Humanitarian Crisis
Political Geography:
Africa, Sudan, and Darfur

96. Continued Protection, Sustainable Reintegration: Afghan Refugees and Migrants in Iran

Author:
M.J. Abbasi Shavazi and D. Glazebrook
Publication Date:
05-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
Abstract:
Focusing on Iran, this is the third briefing paper from AREU’s long-term research project looking at Afghans’ transnational networks in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan.
Topic:
Migration, Refugees, Humanitarian Intervention, transnationalism, and Sustainability
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Middle East

97. Moving Beyond Kosovo: Envisioning a Coherent Theory of Humanitarian Intervention

Author:
Matthew Perault
Publication Date:
05-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:
School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:
This paper uses the Kosovo bombing of 1999 as a starting point for imagining a sustainable, coherent theory of humanitarian intervention. The paper presents three principal problems of the Kosovo bombing—coherence, legality, and tactics—and describes their impact on the legitimacy of intervention and on human welfare. It then suggests three primary types of reforms that might assist in creating a more coherent logic of intervention: structural reform, coercion, and acculturation. Such reforms might assist the international community in responding more consistently and reliably to crisis situations across the globe.
Topic:
Humanitarian Intervention, Conflict, and Crisis Management
Political Geography:
Eastern Europe and Kosovo