Reconstructing humanitarian intervention.

• Main Author: Wong, Dan Lim.
• Other Authors: Acharya, Amitav
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Political science
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/14401
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

A recent string of humanitarian tragedies, notably in Somalia, Rwanda and East Timor, highlighted an urgent need to improve the international humanitarian system. The controversial nature of humanitarian intervention stems from issues concerning its legitimacy, its encroachment onto the 'sovereignty' of states and questions revolving around when to intervene, who can intervene, with whose authority, how to intervene and where to intervene. Kofi Annan, the current Secretary-General of the UN, identified the fundamental need for consensus building among UN member states on the issues and procedures of humanitarian intervention. At the UN General Assembly in 1999 and 2000, he had repeatedly requested the international community to settle on a consensus once and for all. A number of institutions and scholars had written about reforming the international humanitarian system. Some of these efforts in proposing approaches and means to improve upon the way humanitarian crises are responded to are discussed in this paper.