Humanitarian Intervention: Human Rights versus Humanitarian Assistance

In the post-Cold-War era, intervention to alleviate humanitarian crises and protect human rights has gained wide legal and moral acceptance. This article examines whether humanitarian interventions achieve their aim of protecting human rights. Through the examination of two post-Cold-War interventions, in Somalia and Kosovo, it will be argued that the linkage between humanitarian assistance and the protection of human rights is tenuous. In both cases, the methods employed to provide humanitarian assistance were not consistent with those required to protect human rights.