Humanitarian Intervention : Legality and legitimacy

Abstract

This paper examines the notion of the doctrine of humanitarian intervention and its relation with state sovereignty as the fundamental basis of the modern world order and attempts to establish whether a legal and legitimate basis for humanitarian intervention exists. Exploring legal basis, it examines both customary law and the UN Charter.Searching for legitimate basis for the doctrine, it investigates are there the minimum duties of states in protecting the rights of their citizens as elements of their sovereignty and what is that minimum; does unobservance of these duties, if they exist, justify humanitarian intervention and in which way it can be successfully employed.