Humanitarian Intervention and Safety Zones

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Carol McQueen

   Pages 1-23

3. Providing Comfort at Home: Safe Haven in Iraq

   • Carol McQueen

   Pages 24-50

4. Only So Far but No Further: Safe Areas in Bosnia

   • Carol McQueen

   Pages 51-95

5. A Decision Not to Act: Proposed UN Secure Humanitarian Areas in Rwanda

   • Carol McQueen

   Pages 96-122

6. Too Little, Too Late: France’s Zone Humanitaire Sûre in Rwanda

   • Carol McQueen

   Pages 123-148

7. Conclusion

   • Carol McQueen

   Pages 149-162

8. Back Matter

   Pages 163-230

   PDF

Neither willing to engage in a meaningful way to save targeted civilians in Iraq, Bosnia and Rwanda nor to stand entirely aside as massive violations of humanitarian law occurred, states embraced safety zones as a means to 'do something' whilst avoiding being drawn into open warfare. Humanitarian Intervention and Safety Zones: Iraq, Bosnia and Rwanda explores why and how effectively safety zones were implemented as a way to protect civilians and displaced persons in three of the most important conflicts of the 1990s. It shows how states consistently sought to reconcile their political and humanitarian interests, a process which often led to problematic and ambiguous outcomes, and assesses in fascinating detail the difficulties and controversies surrounding the use of such zones, variously called safe havens, safe areas, secure humanitarian areas, and zones humanitaires sûres . The book also asks whether or not such zones could serve as precedents for possible future attempts to ensure the safety of civilians in complex humanitarian emergencies.

• conflict
• conflicts
• Humanitarian law
• intervention

• United Nations Peacekeeping Mission, Democratic Republic of Congo

  Carol McQueen

CAROL MCQUEEN is Political Affairs Officer with the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Policies and ethics