The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in Libya and Syria

Abstract

Purpose – Against the backdrop of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) policy – an instrument with which the UN seeks to protect vulnerable civilians from gross violations of human rights – this study examines the application of R2P in the Libyan intervention and the various efforts to replicate similar claim to intervene in Syria. While proposing that the roles of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) is increasingly influential to the success of an intervention, this study asks the question: what are the general conditions for success of R2P application in Libya and Syria during the period 2011-2014? Design/methodology/approach – In its examination of the policy and scholarly works that have informed, justified and evaluated the processes and outcomes of the principles of R2P policy, this paper used relevant search terms for conditions for success of humanitarian military intervention (COSI). Specific keywords such as R2P, BRICS and humanitarian intervention are scrutinised for relevance to the research question. Documents that failed to satisfy the criteria of research quality were excluded, whereas the key problems and findings identified in each studied document were tabulated into inclusion and exclusion. Findings – Despite the role of BRICS in the Libyan and Syrian interventions, existing literature failed to explicitly make this connection, although much of the literature agreed on a number of general conditions for success. This paper problematise the relationship between success and BRICS role. One of the reasons for this is the emerging nature of the literature that is beginning to appreciate the plausibility that the BRICS influences the success of an intervention. Originality/value – This piece synthesises studies that focus on COSI with preference for works that engaged this study’s case countries. Much rich data which even until now are always in need of close examination emerged during data collection, making it useful to craft a third part for BRICS-focused literature that has informed the R2P debate.

The United Nations and Its Duty to Implement International Protection: Studying Different Situations in Three Different Continents

“…In 2009, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the principle of "responsibility to protect" through three basic rules: (Bellamy, 2005;Odeyemi, 2015):…”

“…As a result, the Security Council adopted resolution 733, which allowed the establishment of a military embargo under Chapter VII to restore security and stability, and resolution 794, which allowed the use of all necessary means and the utmost speed to establish a security environment during which humanitarian relief operations under Chapter VII can be achieved (Odeyemi, 2015).…”

“…Consequently, the paralysis of UN in Syrian crisis indicates that UN must reconsider its strategies so that it can expand its authorities to provide more security to the citizens who are exposed to the danger of their states (Odeyemi, 2015). This means that rebuilding international consensus to act against atrocities will require rethinking about the "responsibility to protect" and the phantom military solutions that it provides.…”

“…The international military intervention in the Somali crisis is an important model for evaluating the legitimacy of intervention in the internal affairs of states for humanitarian considerations without the consent of the State concerned, Whether this intervention was done by the United Nations as an international organization or by some countries that have officially entered Somalia under the umbrella of UN without direct and effective conduct by these countries to UN in terms of leadership's intervention or the conduct of the military operations and the objectives prepared for them (Odeyemi, 2015).…”

“…As a stringent and sound reaction, In March 1999, The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) launched air strikes against Serbia, forcing its president "Milosevic" to withdraw from Kosovo, and as a result Belgrade lost effective control of the territory, which was placed under the protection of the United Nations and NATO, which spread about 17 thousand soldiers in that recovered territory (Hehir, 2008). On the final status of Kosovo, Negotiations were held between Serbs and Kosovar Albanians, at the end of which "Martti Ahtisaari", commissioned by the United Nations to prepare a final status for the Territory, set a plan of independence under international supervision supported by the Americans and Europeans (Odeyemi, 2015).…”