Why humanitarian intervention in libya is not humanitarian. For more information and the latest updates, please visit the hls coronavirus information page tweet this. Since then as libya has shown the international community has learned its lessons. 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.
Responsibility to protect and its applicability in libya. But to determine the nature of its failure, it is necessary to examine the. But having covered the interventions and the bloodshed that has followed in libya, iraq and afghanistan i find it hard to be as complacent as the prointervention lobby often appears to be. By 2011, natos military intervention in libya had crystallized brazilian doubts about the gap between principle and practice into three elements regarding intervention that serve to explain why. Humanitarian intervention, the responsibility to protect. The essay analyzes the events of the 2011 humanitarian intervention in libya through a postcolonial framework. 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. This was fundamentally due to the contradicting actions that nato undertook in the intervention and the extent that the intervention can be considered successful. An armed intervention in a state, without that states consent, to address the threat of a humanitarian disaster, in particular caused by. The first part focuses on positive implications, the second highlights negative aspects, and the final section provides analysis using the 2010 national security strategy nss as a framework to measure the strategic implications. Nato intervention in libya is in its own oil interest. Pdf libya and criteria for humanitarian intervention. Libya, the responsibility to protect and the future of humanitarian intervention edited by aidan hehir university of westminster, uk and robert murray. But their targets are usually the early, ugly missions of the 1990s.
By the end of february 2011, medical supplies, fuel and food were dangerously low in libya. 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. The point isnt just that western intervention in libya is grossly hypocritical. Humanitarian crisis in libya world health organization. Humanitarian intervention ethical,legal,andpoliticaldilemmas edited by j. Qaddafis defeat at the hands of the westernbacked rebels was a triumph for obama and the principle of humanitarian intervention. Harvard university and harvard law school shifted to remote teaching and learning, as of monday, march 23. Unlike the despots in egypt and tunisia, libyan leader muammar gaddafi is resisting the popular revolutions sweeping the arab world. T im d unne and j ess g ifkins the international response to the crisis in libya has been remarkably quick. The history of humanitarian intervention in theory and. A model humanitarian intervention reassessing natos. Theres nothing moral about natos intervention in libya.
The libya intervention is the latest in a series of international military actions after the cold war justi. In march 2011, a coalition of nato allies and partners began enforcing an arms embargo, maintaining a no. Regrettably, the international community has so far wavered to intervene in syria. Intervention in libya was such a smashing success that a sequel is coming. The international community should consider humanitarian intervention in libya only after a thorough assessment of means and ends. This book critically analyses the 2011 intervention in libya arguing that the manner in which the intervention was sanctioned, prosecuted and justified has a number of troubling implications for the both the future of humanitarian intervention and international peace and security. The history of humanitarian intervention in theory and practice seminar 2nd term 20142015 organized by dirk moses hec and jennifer welsh sps mondays 11. Kadhafis troops and tanks entered the city and the same day french forces began an international military intervention in libya, later joined by coalition. Humanitarian intervention remains a very controversial area of international law. In addition, there is a perception that military action in libya has taken priority over efforts to secure.
Germany also displayed lack of interest in participating militarily in the intervention in libya along with nato. Indeed, the intervention was spearheaded by hillary clinton, samantha power and susan rice three selfdescribed warriors for human and womens rights. For the purposes of this essay, i define humanitarian intervention as the use of offensive military force by a state or. The ethics of humanitarian intervention in libya james pattison w ars and interventions bring to the fore certain ethical issues. A model humanitarian intervention reassessing natos libya. A history of conflict and international intervention in libya.
Critiquing humanitarian intervention in libya law of. Natos humanitarian intervention in libya exacerbated. This renaissance of humanitarian intervention started in the early 1990s. Council, responsibility to protect, humanitarian intervention. The libyan intervention, triumph and downfall of the responsibility to protect in one master thesis jan maessen s0623563. Libya, sovereignty, regional organizations, security. Yet, it has been going through a different path than its neighbours egypt and tunisia that have largely succeeded in their revolutions. Libyas dissolution challenges the notion that natos intervention, ostensibly humanitarian in nature, was a success.
Military intervention in libya overseas development institute. In 2011, libya became one of the countries that were quickly impacted by the arab spring. The true face of humanitarian intervention rt oped. Humanitarian intervention, r2p and the case of libya. 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. Libya, the responsibility to protect and the future of. Could humanitarian intervention be legally justified in extreme cases. Humanitarian intervention has been defined as a states use of military force against another state, with publicly stating its goal is to end human rights violations in that state. James pattison, humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect. The use of force to protect civilians and humanitarian action. This action signaled the beginning of the latest military intervention by the u. Moreover, libya is a small country, with a population of only 6.
Libya is no model for humanitarian intervention the new. To what extent was the nato intervention in libya a. And this is the aftermath of an intervention which, we were told, was supposed to improve human rights in libya. This definition may be too narrow as it precludes nonmilitary forms of intervention such as humanitarian aid and international sanctions. There are many throughout the world who wonder why has there not been a humanitarian intervention in syria under the r2p doctrine. R2p and intervention after libya bryant university. Humanitarian intervention has come to mean the use, or the threat of use, of military intervention in the affairs of another country for the sake of stopping a humanitarian disaster and protecting the people in that country from violations of human rights. Pdf libya and criteria for humanitarian intervention researchgate. Why does my heart sink when i hear the current unmandated action in libya described as humanitarian intervention. A humanitarian intervention in syria for western powers could have led to sticking in the quagmire and would have in fact. It will not make use of extended historical perspectives on the background of the conflict but rather map it out in a more contemporary context. For many commentators the paradigm case is that of natos 1999 operation over kosovo, but states are still divided on the legality of this use of force. Libya and the future of the responsibility to protect african and.
No, the libya intervention wasnt a humanitarian success. At first, the events there unfolded pretty much like those in egypt, with the popular uprising seemingly on the way to. The case of canada 110 kim richard nossal 7 the devolution of a norm. Humanitarian intervention on its face incompatible with article 24 81 2. Security council and a military intervention of foreign forces in libya to protect the. Pdf the ethics of humanitarian intervention in libya. Everyone says the libya intervention was a failure. The position of the international court of justice 83 2. This extraordinary amount of money for an intervention that americans were told would last days not weeks could only. It has perhaps never been more important to question this. Gaddafi quickly gained a reputation as being both unpredictable and aberrant. Theres nothing moral about natos intervention in libya this article is more than 9 years old. The intervention in libya undoubtedly managed to save many civilian lives.
Many interventions have been made under the veil of humanitarian reasons, such as the us intervention in iraq in 1990. R2p, the bosnia generation and humanitarian intervention in libya. Time to end natos war in libya dennis kucinich world. Nato intervention in libya is in its own oil interest by prof. The north atlantic treaty organisations nato intervention in libya is an operation that has caused great debate.
Kuperman, the moral hazard of humanitarian intervention. 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. The intervention at the time was designed to do three things. Pdf when seeking guidelines for worstcase scenario, military intervention under the responsibility to protect looks to the just war tradition. Such a nonintervention can be explained at least partly because of the balancingstrong opposition by russia and iran to any western intervention in syria. The libyan case will perhaps go down as one of the worst abuses of the doctrine of humanitarian intervention. The checkered history of humanitarian intervention. Humanitarian intervention definition of humanitarian.
Migrant workers fleeing the violence at choucha refugee camp, tunisia. This essay will keep its focus on libya rather than on other countries. Afghanistan, and despite plummeting support for humanitarian intervention in many. In the first section of this paper, i will discuss u. Despite the fall of the qaddafi regime in libya, humanitarian intervention still has plenty of critics.
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