Original scientific paper
The State of International Humanitarian Law as a Consequence of the History of South Slavs’ Nation-Building Processes
Neven Andjelić
orcid.org/0000-0003-1237-5662
; Regent’s University, London, United Kingdom
Abstract
South Slavs have been repeatedly used as precedents for international humanitarian
law and consequently have affected global developments: from the international
concern over positions of Christians in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the
1870s that led to the peaceful replacement of imperial rule to the late 20th century
in the NATO intervention against Serbia and Montenegro over Kosovo
Albanians, which led to the creation of the newest nation-state in Europe. In
addition to internal factors, the very creation of the common South Slav state
was a result of international interventions, as was the dissolution of the country.
The League of Nations ruling in favour of the Yugoslav complaint against
Hungary in 1934 aided in developing the UN Security Council resolutions
against Afghanistan in September 2001. Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1995 was a
precedent for the UN sanctioned intervention, while Kosovo was a precedent
for the non-sanctioned American-led intervention. Afghanistan, East Timor,
Iraq, Libya are all legal consequences of interventions in the Balkans. Therefore,
local history of interventions can lead to a general understanding of the
development of international humanitarian law.
Keywords
Yugoslavia; International Intervention; Humanitarian Law; Bosnia- Herzegovina; Kosovo
Hrčak ID:
115723
URI
Publication date:
27.12.2013.
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