THE UNITED NATIONS CHARTER AND USE OF FORCE IN INTERNATIONAL LAW: AN INQUIRY INTO THE LEGALITY OF NATO’S INTERVENTION IN KOSOVO

Abstract

In  international  law,  prohibition  on  the  use  of  force  against  the  territorial  integrity  of  another  state  is  prohibited and the United Nations is restrained not to intervene in any matter considered to be within the domestic jurisdiction of a member state, except action taken within the collective enforcement measures under chapter VII of the Charter. Consequently, what underlies the  humanitarian intervention debate  is this perceived tension between the  values of ensuring respect for fundamental human rightsand the primacy of the norms of sovereignty, non-intervention, and self  determination  which  are  considered  essential  factors  in  the  maintenance  of  peace  and  international  security. These  values  are  set  out  in  the  United  Nations  Charter  as  fundamental  purposes  of  the  United  Nations.  However, while  there  are  mechanisms  within  the  Charter  for  the  protection  and  enforcement  of  peace  and  international security, there are no equivalent provisions or mechanisms in the Charter for the protection of human rights. There is no legislative prescription on how to deal with grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions particularly when there is  inaction  by  the  United  Nations  Security  Council.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  paper  which  has  adopted  the doctrinal approach questions the legality of the NATO’s intervention in Kosovo on grounds of protecting the ethnic Albanians  from  repression  by  the  Serbian  forces  without  the  approval  of  the  United  Nations.  The  paper  answered such  questions  whether  there  is  an  emerging  norm  of  unilateral  humanitarian  intervention.  It  concluded  that  the Kosovo  incident  was  a  violation  of  international  law  and  is  just  one  isolated  case  that  did  not  establish  any  state practice of unilateral intervention.