La legittima difesa, l'intervento umanitario e la responsabilità di proteggere

This article addresses the still open debate over the legality of armed intervention against a State responsible for gross violations of human rights against its population.Indeed, the so called concept humanitarian intervention, as much as it has been invoked as a moral duty by authoritative sources, including the UN Secretary General, has not yet been universally accepted in the international community as a legal justification for the use of armed force. The present artiche emphasizes the element of practice, particularly within the Un framework, promoting a new conceptual approach giving broadere importance to the life-supporting protection and assistance to populations at risk. The UNSC authorization of the military intervention in Lybia may ba taken as an important precedent in this direction. Next to the anlysis of the collective right of a population to basic protecion from forcible State action, this article examines and elaborates upon right for individuals, victims of an emergency situation, to obtain humanitarian assistance.