Refugees as an Impetus for Intervention: The Case of Haiti

The 1991-94 Haitian refugee crisis, and the resulting intervention, brings together a number ofdifferent issues, including refugee flows, human rights concerns, UN Security Council action, and the domestic politics and other direct interests ofone ofthe great powers. This article examines these factors and the role they played in the eventual US led intervention. It concludes that the perceived security aspects of the Haitian refugees were the primary impetus for the US action. However, human rights and other humanitarian concerns also played a significant, although ambiguous, role, and the reaction on the part of other states to the intervention may prove to be precedential in legitimating future intervention for humanitarian purposes.