Why intervention in libya was justified einternational relations. Libya, the responsibility to protect and the future of humanitarian intervention hehir, a. But to determine the nature of its failure, it is necessary to examine the. Before embracing such conclusions, however, it is important to conduct a more rigorous assessment of the net humanitarian impact of nato intervention in libya. Mission creep is another flaw inherent in humanitarian intervention.
Apr 14, 2011 why does my heart sink when i hear the current unmandated action in libya described as humanitarian intervention. Intervention in libya taking humanitarian justification seriously. Feb 18, 2012 in iraq, afghanistan in kosovo to a lesser degree and now libya, what has been left after intervention has been a series of weak and corrupt fragile states, where violence is often. Libya, the responsibility to protect and the future of. Theres nothing moral about natos intervention in libya.
Mar 22, 2016 the new libyan flag is raised during a parade in the eastern city of benghazi to celebrate the second anniversary of natos first military operation in libya on march 19, 20. Critiquing humanitarian intervention in libya law of armed. Another urgent debate unfolding now that the operation is under way. Abstract the aim of this paper is to define humanitarian intervention, to analyze its purpose and to evaluate its value in international law. Based on this ostensible success, many experts now cite libya as a model for implementing the socalled responsibility to protect r2p. If intervention in libya is justified on humanitarian grounds, shouldnt we be asking what it really means to succeed. Gary bass, princeton university professor and author of freedom. The new libyan flag is raised during a parade in the eastern city of benghazi to celebrate the second anniversary of natos first military operation in libya on march 19, 20. In the 30 days prior to this war in libya, the differences of opinion from members of the administration, the media, and the public was quite mixed. Humanitarian intervention comes of age foreign affairs.
This action signaled the beginning of the latest military intervention by the u. Since then as libya has shown the international community has learned its lessons and grown much more adept at using military force to save lives. Security council resolution 1973 authorised the use of force in libya to protect civilians under assault from muammar gaddafis army. Just as iraq war advocates pointed to the capture and killing of saddam hussein as proof that their war was a. Pdf humanitarian intervention and state sovereignty. Nato intervention in libya is in its own oil interest by prof. History of conflict and international intervention in libya 2 in the bloodless coup of 1969, mohammed idris was overthrown and moamar algaddafi became commander in chief of the armed forces, and the chairman of the revolutionary command council. There are strong arguments for and against the intervention in libya.
It is situating the intervention in this context that dispels any and all illusions as to the humanitarian character of the intervention and the invocation of responsibility to protect. No, the libya intervention wasnt a humanitarian success. But their targets are usually the early, ugly missions of the 1990s. Libya, the responsibility to protect and the future of humanitarian intervention. The principle of humanitarian intervention in libya and. Council resolutions authorising a range of political, legal. It has perhaps never been more important to question this. The dilemma of humanitarian intervention muhammad hassan zia assistant professor university of the punjab gujranwala campus gujranwala, pakistan. Apr 07, 2016 writing in vox, shadi hamid attacks the prevailing wisdom that libyas chaos means that the 2011 u. Shamoo unlike the despots in egypt and tunisia, libyan leader muammar gaddafi is resisting the popular revolutions sweeping the arab world. Andreas buro, speaker for peace policy of the committee for basic rights and democracy and clemens ronnefeldt, speaker for peace concerns of the german branch of the international fellowship of reconciliation 1. Yet, it has been going through a different path than its neighbours egypt and tunisia that have largely succeeded in their revolutions. Humanitarian intervention, actions undertaken by an organization or organizations usually a state or a coalition of states that are intended to alleviate extensive human suffering within the borders of a sovereign state. This content was written by a student and assessed as.
Wheeler, tociteonlyoneexample,concludethatnoninterventionistsareunable. This unique and wideranging history of humanitarian intervention examines responses to oppression, persecution, and mass atrocities from the. In countries like libya, just as in iraq, outside calls for humanitarian military intervention in a country with significant oil reserves are met with suspicion. The principle of humanitarian intervention in libya and the ivory coast. By setting overall strategy while allowing others to shoulder the burden of implementing it, the obama administration achieved its shortterm objective of stopping qaddafis atrocities and its longterm one of removing him from power.
The postintervention state of libya has witnessed dramatic and catastrophic collapse in libyas overall development back to a pre1970s state. Jan 27, 2016 the immediate aftermath of the nato bombing of libya was a time of high gloating. Harvard university and harvard law school shifted to remote teaching and learning, as of monday, march 23. The ensuing rescue operation quickly transmuted into a regime change that is beginning to look like post2003 iraq. Everyone says the libya intervention was a failure. Such suffering tends to be the result of a government instigating. Even though, the absence of a humanitarian emergency was glaring in libya, the west continued pushing for regime change under a humanitarian pretext. Humanitarian intervention on its face incompatible with article 24 81 2. This article seeks to explain the decisions by nicolas sarkozys france and david camerons britain to intervene in the 2011 libyan crisis. Many interventions have been made under the veil of humanitarian reasons, such as the us intervention in iraq in 1990.
Why humanitarian intervention goes horribly wrong aeon ideas. Apr 12, 2016 libya and the 2011 nato intervention there have become synonymous with failure and disaster. The intervention in libya is founded on a growing principle in international law that, where a state is failing to protect its own citizens from systematic violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, other states have a legal right, even an obligation, to intervene. Military intervention in libya overseas development institute. Humanitarian intervention involves the threat and use of military forces as a central feature. Mar 19, 2018 in addition, gaddafi had taken libya from being the least prosperous country in africa to the being the most prosperous by the time of the nato operation.
Apr 14, 2015 huda, you really did a good job in tackling the problematic humanitarian intervention in libya in 2011. For more information and the latest updates, please visit the hls coronavirus information page. Unlike the despots in egypt and tunisia, libyan leader muammar gaddafi is resisting the. Libyas dissolution challenges the notion that natos intervention, ostensibly humanitarian in nature, was a success. Natos humanitarian intervention in libya has unleashed. The libyan intervention, triumph and downfall of the.
Luke glanville, armed humanitarian intervention and the problem of abuse after libya, in don scheid ed. Time to end natos war in libya dennis kucinich world. Security council and a military intervention of foreign forces in libya to protect the. After all, over the last 20 years the term has acquired currency not only among western politicians but also academics as a description of coercive, usually military, intervention ostensibly for humanitarian purposes. The checkered history of humanitarian intervention. The true face of humanitarian intervention rt oped. A history the dilemma of how best to protect human rights is one of the most persistent problems facing the international community today. Why humanitarian intervention in libya is not humanitarian. The position of the international court of justice 83 2.
Natos intervention into libya has been applauded by a host of scholars, western media, and even libyans themselves for addressing the plight of the libyan people under an autocrat. Gaddafi quickly gained a reputation as being both unpredictable and aberrant. This extraordinary amount of money for an intervention that americans were told would last days not weeks could only. In march 2011, a coalition of nato allies and partners began enforcing an arms embargo, maintaining a no. Humanitarian intervention, r2p and the case of libya keynote. It is an intervention in the sense that it entails interfering in the internal affairs of a state by sending military forces into the territory or airspace of a sovereign state that has not committed an act of aggression against another state. If libya was a model intervention, then it was a model of failure. As new york times columnist nicholas kristof wrote, after iraq, we just dont have a realistic option of invading another arab country with oil. Is this strictly a humanitarian intervention or is the. The use of force to protect civilians and humanitarian action.
A history of conflict and international intervention in libya. Critiquing humanitarian intervention in libya law of. For the purposes of this essay, i define humanitarian intervention as the use of offensive military force by a state or. The international community should consider humanitarian intervention in libya only after a thorough assessment of means and ends. Libya and the 2011 nato intervention there have become synonymous with failure and disaster.
In 2011, libya became one of the countries that were quickly impacted by the arab spring. Introduction the events of the arab spring and subsequent developments in libya and egypt raise profound questions regarding the tension between international humanitarian intervention and state sovereignty in the context of geopolitics. Libya and the future of the responsibility to protect african and. While many analysts, and nato itself, refer to op eration unified protector in libya as an undeniable success and even a template for future nato opera tions. Humanitarian intervention, the responsibility to protect. Libya is no model for humanitarian intervention the new. Militarintervention in libyen notwendigkeit, legitimitat, risiken zif. In iraq, afghanistan in kosovo to a lesser degree and now libya, what has been left after intervention has been a series of weak and corrupt fragile states, where violence is often. Libya and the future of the responsibility to protect african. Humanitarian intervention, the responsibility to protect, and.
Reassessing natos libya campaign international security 38. Thus, as one commentator explains, before the intervention, libya had the highest gdp per capita and life expectancy on the continent. Writing in vox, shadi hamid attacks the prevailing wisdom that libyas chaos means that the 2011 u. Faculty and research research and publications a model humanitarian intervention. Despite the fall of the qaddafi regime in libya, humanitarian intervention still has plenty of critics. Less people lived below the poverty line than in the. The fall of libyan leader muammar alqaddafi is a significant foreign policy triumph for u. The history and politics of humanitarian intervention. Could humanitarian intervention be legally justified in extreme cases.
In addition, gaddafi had taken libya from being the least prosperous country in africa to the being the most prosperous by the time of the nato operation. Armed humanitarian intervention and the problem of abuse. Why does my heart sink when i hear the current unmandated action in libya described as humanitarian intervention. The doctrine of humanitarian intervention is one of the most highly controversial issues in the world today. Successful humanitarian interventions and war in syria. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Article, refereed journal a model humanitarian intervention. Humanitarian intervention, r2p and the case of libya.
Natos humanitarian intervention in libya exacerbated. Taking humanitarian justification seriously intervention. R2p and intervention after libya bryant university. Your post entails brilliant ideas that worth analyzing while assessing the introduction of the concept of humanitarian intervention in international law and its implications. Military action in libya was sanctioned by the security. In 2001, the international commission on intervention and state sovereignty iciss released a report arguing that states and the international community have a responsibility to protect r2p citizens from major human rights violations and war crimes.
In the first section of this paper, i will discuss u. Since then as libya has shown the international community has learned its lessons. Pdf the ethics of humanitarian intervention in libya. Nato intervention in libya is in its own oil interest. Nov 09, 2015 natos intervention into libya has been applauded by a host of scholars, western media, and even libyans themselves for addressing the plight of the libyan people under an autocrat. In my opinion, this is one of the most interesting examples of humanitarian intervention in recent history and it is an excellent example of the interplay between law and. Rhetoric, reality and the future of humanitarian intervention palgrave macmillan, 2012 international law, security and ethics coeditor, routledge, 2011 humanitarian intervention. Mar 29, 2016 mission creep is another flaw inherent in humanitarian intervention. Natos action magnified the conflicts duration about sixfold, and its death toll at least sevenfold, while also exacerbating human rights abuses, humanitarian suffering, islamic radicalism, and weapons proliferation in libya and its neighbors. At first, the events there unfolded pretty much like those in egypt, with the popular uprising seemingly on the way to. It has perhaps never been more important to question this prevailing wisdom. Libya and the future of humanitarian intervention foreign.
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