“In a world sadly inured to incidents of gross human rights violations, and accustomed to the various reactions of righteous governments and hamstrung international organisations, it is seldom that a single event should spark worldwide debate and polarise international opinion. The March 1999 NATO military intervention in Kosovo in response to serious human rights violations was one of those rare occurrences. Although it generated fierce disputes among political figures, and heated polemic in academic circles, it was clear that the events in Kosovo ushered in a sea-change in the arena of humanitarian intervention. The nature and legitimacy of that change was shrouded in partiality and emotiveness.”
— Justice Richard Goldstone, Chairperson of the Independent International Commission on Kosovo
“It has now become so customary to point to the failure of the international community to intervene and end the genocide in Rwanda that it is almost forgotten that this relative neglect of Africa in these matters is much more general than only the Rwanda Case.”
— Nelson Mandela, Former President of South Africa
This publication is funded by the Ford Foundation.
