Abstract
Humanitarian Activity in the Context of the Balkan Wars
Highlights
As we move on with our daily lives, we often hear on the news or read in the newspapers about humanitarian aid being sent to some area in need to help a country that has faced a natural disaster
When we think that life and destiny can one day bring us into the position where we are the one in need for humanitarian aid, how would that change our perspective?
This paper examines this complex multi-layered facet of humanitarian activity by using the Balkan Wars as a case study
Summary
As we move on with our daily lives, we often hear on the news or read in the newspapers about humanitarian aid being sent to some area in need to help a country that has faced a natural disaster. Humanitarian assistance must be provided in accordance with the basic humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, and neutrality, as stated in the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 46/182.10 bearing in mind the two key concepts of this paper—identity and culture—it is important to mention that the United Nations (the biggest actor on the humanitarian scene) undertakes the task of humanitarian assistance with full respect for the sovereignty of the states that are helped.11 In this case, humanitarian assistance can be divided into three main categories: direct assistance, indirect assistance, and infrastructure support—which have diminishing degrees of contact with the affected population.. Such actions that completely ignore the sovereignty of the target state under the name of humanitarian intervention are real threat to the identity and culture of the people who are supposedly “saved.” It is quite hard to tell when the intervention for humanitarian purposes passes the thin line between genuine help and, as expressed by Hauerwas, “United States imperialism.”. Such actions that completely ignore the sovereignty of the target state under the name of humanitarian intervention are real threat to the identity and culture of the people who are supposedly “saved.” It is quite hard to tell when the intervention for humanitarian purposes passes the thin line between genuine help and, as expressed by Hauerwas, “United States imperialism.” And in order to understand how this thin line can be protected, I discuss the main principles of humanitarianism a little more
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