Human Rights and Humanitarian Intervention

Human rights, peace operations, and humanitarian intervention have emerged in recent decades as important components of international law and practice. Humanitarian intervention is often justified in the name of human rights and the rule of law, but there has been little empirical study of the institutions and individuals conducting the work of human rights and the rule of law in the field. This book offers an important analysis of law and expertise in humanitarian peace operations. It explores humanitarian intervention through the practices of international human rights experts in inter-governmental organization field missions and the key legal texts that authorize and direct their work.

Elizabeth M. Bruch is an Assistant Professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington Tacoma. She previously taught at the University of British Columbia, and on the law faculty at American University's Washington College of Law, Arizona State University College of Law, and Valparaiso University School of Law. She also worked as a human rights lawyer and served for two years as the Executive Officer of the Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Introduction 1 Multi-dimensional law in humanitarian intervention: violence, bureaucracy, and governance 2 Power in writing: formal law, mandates, and reports in humanitarian intervention 3 Law in translation: human rights field officers as international experts 4 The rule of law in the field: standards, politics, and pragmatism Conclusion Appendix: Research and expertise in the field of humanitarian intervention