Humanitarian intervention is understood in this dissertation as wider than the traditional ‘unilateral military force’ definition but can be characterised as third-party intervention with the aim of alleviating the impact and consequences of conflict on the civilian population. This dissertation will critically evaluate the doctrine of humanitarian intervention by analysing the extent to which it has been used in an attempt to prevent humanitarian suffering during crises. It will reference and analyse primary and secondary sources, including the United Nations Charter and Security Council Resolutions, academic writings on humanitarian intervention and its application in the case studies, as well as personal accounts of those involved in the conflicts, specifically their views on the veracity of intervention. An analysis of this research will demonstrate the limited extent to which humanitarian intervention has been able to bring about a peaceful outcome and ensure the protection of human rights. The case studies selected for this dissertation are those where gross and systematic violations of fundamental rights have taken place, and therefore urgently demanded humanitarian intervention.
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