The Kosovo Conflict: Military Intervention and Humanitarian Crisis

A paper which studies the structure and dynamics of the Kosovo Conflict and the humanitarian crisis management by the international community.

This paper explores the Kosovo conflict, its escalation in 1998 and its subsequent management. It is divided in four parts. First, it deals with the accusations of human rights violations within the province and presents diverse evidence from various human rights groups on the existence of such abuses. Second, it examines the Serbian response to these allegations and the reasons behind Milosevic’s unwillingness to rectify the worsening situation. Third, it presents an evaluation of the need for intervention with regard to International Law and previous humanitarian practice. Fourth, it analyzes the diplomatic and military actions taken by the International Community.

Table of Contents:
Introduction.
The Human Rights Situation in Kosovo:
History of Albanian Mistreatment.
Allegations of Human Rights Violations.
The Serbian Response to Accusations of Human Rights Violations.
An Evaluation of the Need for Intervention with Regard to International Humanitarian Law
An Examination of the Accusations of Human Rights Violations.
On the Legality of Military Intervention.
International Action
International Humanitarian Action in Perspective: The Failure of Diplomacy and the NATO Bombing Campaign
Belated Recommendations: Was there an Alternative?
Conclusion
The Bosnia and the Kosovo conflicts marked the biggest outbreaks of violence in Europe after the end of the Second World War. The unstable political environment in federal Yugoslavia after the fall of communism, brought about the emergence of salient ethnic issues, which led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people. The focus of this paper is the Kosovo conflict, the human rights violations that led to its escalation, and the international response that followed. Even though the situation in Serbia has changed and democratic parties are in power, the Kosovo question is still far from being resolved due to the mutual hatred of Serbs and Albanians. Moreover, the downturn of the Kosovo crisis gave credibility to the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) as a political player, which has further exacerbated the situation not only in Kosovo, but also in neighboring Montenegro and Macedonia.