The Intervention in Libya: Responsibility to Protect - Essay Example

Does the intervention in Libya represent a consolidation and advancement of R2P (either as a norm or as an operational concept)? The intervention ofNATO in Libya could be observed as an act to protect the civilians from atrocity crimes with the moral support of the international community which assumes the ‘responsibility to protect’ people. As such, it can be seen that the United States’ intervention in Libya was an attempt to protect the human rights of the people there. United Nations recognised the necessity of protecting human rights in Libya and gave backing to the concept of R2P in the year 2005 which led to the military intervention in Libya to protect the people from atrocity crimes which began in 2011.

The UN’s first peacekeeping mission was in Darfur which was delayed as result of the disapproval from the government of Sudan but the UN has successfully implemented two resolutions in 1970 and 1973 with the backing of the state leaders and the international community with a favourable attitude towards resolutions to maintain peace. All the possible means to protect the civilians are used in the case of Libya and it is also true that the present Libyan resolutions authorise the use of force more explicitly and therefore it stands apart from other recent interventions with an objective to protect the people.

The UN Intervention in Libya could be observed as a consolidation of norms for the protection of people dependant on the recommendations of the Security Council to the International Criminal Court regarding the situations in Libya. It was in the case of Darfur that the Security Council made a recommendation to the ICC inquest on a matter for the first time but the recommendation has been made two years since the beginning of the crisis. But all the members of the Council were quick and united in referring the Libyan matter to the ICC.

Libyan intervention and R2P norm consolidation One could identify a number of factors set in opposition to the observation that resolution 1973 constitutes R2P norm consolidation. According to the observation of Tim Dunne and Jess Gifkins “The no-fly zone was authorised to be implemented by member states who have notified the Secretary-General of the Security Council or the League of Arab States” which relates to the undefined nature of the resolution in functioning (Dunne & Gifkins). There was also confusion regarding the leadership of the mission even though the mission was acceptable to the US, UK, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Norway, Spain, UAE and NATO.

Majority of the resolutions passed by the UN so far had the support of all the council members but such a unanimous support was absent in the case of Libyan resolution. Rising powers like China, Brazil, Russia and India were also not ready to participate in the resolution and questioned the future of forcible civil protection as the US and its allies have started loosing their dominance. On the other hand the advocates of forceful intervention justify Libyan resolution and they point out that such resolutions are essential for the protection of civilians from potential atrocity crimes.

The political situation of Libya was demanding forceful intervention to prevent the atrocities crimes under the rule of Gaddafi and it is true that there were no other options to protect the innocent civilians of Libya after his declaration to engage in atrocities. However the US administrations have considered the basic philosophy as well as the operational characteristics of R2P while making the decision to intervene in the internal affair of Libya (Groves). It is clear from the above discussion that the intervention in Libya could be considered as a model of consolidation and advancement of R2P even though it failed to gain the support of all the UN council members.

Works Cited Dunne, Tim & Gifkins, Jess. Libya and R2P: norm consolidation or a perfect storm? openDemocracy Ltd, 2011. Web. May 6, 2001. . Groves, Steven. Obama Wrongly Adopts U.N. “Responsibility to Protect” to Justify Libya Intervention. The Heritage Foundation, 2011. Web. May 6, 2001. < http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/03/libya-intervention-obama-wrongly-adopts-un-responsibility-to-protect>.