Occasional Paper #36, NATO and Humanitarian Action in the Kosovo Crisis

Review by J.F. Stinissen in Militair Rechtelijk Tijdschrift [Journal of Military Justice, published by the Netherlands Ministry of Defense], Volume XCIII, May 2000, p 219.

"... The researchers conclude inter alia that NATO units have played an important part in receiving the Kosovar refugees but that the troops of those countries which were actually involved in military actions were too clearly a party to the conflict to be able to assist in humanitarian aid. Military units which are involved in humanitarian assistance should, according to the researchers, not be from the countries which engage in military action but from other countries. They also write that the involvement of the military in humanitarian assistance ought to remain the exception. If, however, military units are requested to assist, then a thorough preparation should take place, together with involved humanitarian organizations. Such a preparation was lacking in Kosovo, resulting in cooperation of a provisional nature...."