The track record on this score, however, is not altogether promising. Over time, states and intergovernmental organisations have come to accept the gradual erosion of the sovereignty barrier against humanitarian assistance in conflict situations. UN Security Council Resolution 688 of 1991, which opened the door of Northern Iraq to humanitarian intervention, is probably the most explicit formulation to date. Prohibition against intervention in the internal affairs of states, however, remains very strong. The results of actual interventions to suppress violence and restore peaceful relations among peoples at war within their own societies have been mixed.
Intervention is costly, in financial, political and human terms.
And so the will to intervene, even in the face of horrific violations of human rights, seems to have faded as the decade has progressed. Operation Provide Comfort, in Northern Iraq, gave rise to the illusion that the New World Order would include a New Humanitarian Order. We know, of course, how history challenged the overall concept of New World Order. Somalia, in particular, represented the failure of its humanitarian ambitions. This affected all subsequent attempts to mobilise military support to humanitarian action.