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The Legal Problem of Humanitarian Assistence
oleh: Florentino Ruiz Ruiz
Format: | Article |
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Diterbitkan: | Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) 1995-01-01 |
Deskripsi
The donating of assistance to those people in grave need presents the case for examining the contents of what is known as humanitarian assistance, for determining its field of application, for looking at those to whom it is addressed and at those who are able to offer it. Also, given that this assistance is capable of being offered in very different situations, of putting both peace and international security in danger or of dealing with events which have nothing to do with it, both the General Assembly of the UN as well as the SecurityCouncil have shown how they are related in determined circumstances. The assistance can be offered by governmental institutions or dependents of international organizations such as through Non-Governmental Organizations putting forward new questions aboutthe principle of non-intervention. Furthermore, in those cases in which assistance cannot be offered with the consent of the territorial State, or, in the case of armed conflict, of the contending sides, its very effectiveness necessarily involves the establishment of some system of protection for those who offer assistance, and to try and assure the arrival of help to those to whom it is destined.Conceived and shaped by the Resolutions of the General Assembly with respect to state sovereignty, the offering of humanitarian assistance does not mean that it does not imply limits to the sovereignty of the States and that the need to make it effective does not impose obligations upon them, which as they regard guaranteeing basic human rights such as the right to life or physical well-being can, for their connection with the latter, constitute obligations erga omnes. In any case, it is a developing institution, as well as with regard to its legal consequences, whose real effectiveness must advance by way of identifying rights which are harmed in the case of the offer for assistance being refused or impeded it and the consequences which such interference carries with it.