Humanitarian Inverntion in Libya Sean Xiaosu Tian Erina

Humanitarian Inverntion in Libya Sean Xiaosu Tian Erina Fuse

Introduction

Libya

Muammar Gaddafi � 1942 -2011 �Libyan Revolutionary and Politician �Ruled Libya for 42 years �Rise in power at 1969 Coup d'état �Seeks unification of Africa and the Arab World �Libyan Civil War

Historical Background -Arab Spring -Tribes and Clan -Oil Resources

Historical Background -Arab Spring�Tunisia December 2010, series of violent demonstrations started in Tunisia. Ben Ali who dictated Tunisia for 23 years fled into exile. Transition to democracy started with new administration. �Egypt Inspired by the uprising in Tunisia, Egyptian Revolution took place. President Mubarak was convicted to life in prison.

Historical Background -Tribes and clan�Tripolitania Warfalla, Zuwarah, Zintan �Sirte Qaddadfa, Magarha, Marharba �Cyrenaica Zuwayya, Majabra, Abaydat �Fezzan Tubou, Tuareg

Historical Background -Oil Resources� Rich in oil resource in the Eastern Libya � Gaddafi focused development in Sirte and Tripoli

Crisis in Libya

Libyan Civil War � February Start of Libyan Civil War Most of Libya under control of Libyan opposition � March Gaddafi’s force retakes the majority of cities UN Resolution 1973 adopted France, UK, US intervened in Libya NATO intervenes � August End of Gaddafi’s regime � October Gaddafi killed by the rebels

Timeline of Libyan Crisis �February 16 demonstrations on human activist took place at Benghazi ‘There is nothing serious here. These are just young people fighting each other’ �February 23 UN Secretary-General condemns egregious violation of human rights to crush the revolt �February 26 UN imposes UN Resolution 1970

Timeline of Libyan Crisis �March 17 UN votes to impose no-fly zone and take ‘all necessary measures’ to protect civilians. This was approved by 10 votes. �March 19 French, UK, US military forces began their first action for no-fly zone ‘to deny the Libyan regime from using force against its own people’

UN Resolution 1970 Adopted on 26 February 2011 �Immediate end of violence and to respect international humanitarian and human rights law �Arms embargo �Prevention of mercenaries �Asset freeze for Gaddafi and his relatives �Travel ban for the members closely related to the Gaddafi regime

UN Resolution 1973 Adopted on 17 March 2011 � Complete end to violence and all attacks and abuse of civilians � No-fly zone over Libya � Authorizes ‘all necessary means to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas’ � Ban on all Libyan designated flights � Strengthens arms embargo and action against mercenaries � Asset freeze on assets owned by Libyan authorities � Extends travel ban and assets freeze of resolution 1970

Action of International Community -NATO -Arab League -African Union -Russia -China

Action of NATO �March 31 Starts Operation Unified Protector; arms embargo, nofly zone and actions to protect civilian and civilian centers �April 30 launches missile attack in Tripoli

Action of NATO � June 1 NATO extends its mission for 90 days � June 27 International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Gaddafi and his brother in law for crimes against humanity including murder and persecution � August 18 International Criminal Court plans to negotiate the transfer of Gaddafi and his members for crime against humanity � August 24 Rebels captured Gaddafi’s son and controlled Tripoli

Action of Arab League � 22 February Criticized indiscriminate bombing and mercenary’s use of heavy weapons � 12 March Call on security council to impose no-fly zone over Libya � 20 March Moussa (Egyptian diplomat) criticizes that bombing is not the aim of no-fly zone � 28 August National Transitional Council formally recognized as the Libyan new assembly

Action of African Union � 20 March Demanded ceasefire of the aerial bombing � 30 June-1 July Malabo Summit: roadmap consultation, criticism on French army weapon provision � 20 September National Transitional Council formally recognized as the Libyan new assembly

Action of Russia � 19 March criticized aerial bombing of multinational military and demanded early ceasefire � 1 September National Transitional Council formally recognized as the Libyan new assembly � 21 October �Russian FM Lavrov criticizes NATO that the resolution did not aim to murder Gaddafi

Action of China � 23 February – 8 March Emergency escape of 3860 Chinese in Libya � 20 March Shows Negation insights on the aerial bombing of multinational military (not a direct criticism) � July Chinese FM Yang holds individual conference with Libyan FM Obeidi and Libyan executive chairman Jibril � 22 August suggests approval of National Transitional Council

Recap: conventional wisdom � Nationwide peaceful democratic uprising vs. ruthless dictator � Gaddafi’s bloody agenda for ethnic cleansing, killed thousands of peaceful protesters � Gaddafi threatened a bloodbath in Benghazi � NATO intervened on legitimate ground and was able to address the widespread humanitarian crisis in Libya � Conclusion: NATO prevented a Rwandan like genocide; actions in Libya marks a triumph for R 2 P

Libya: the R 2 P test case? �The origin of R 2 P �If a state is unable to protect its civilians from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, then the responsibility to protect falls on the international community �Legally, morally and politically it has only one justification for the use of force: protect innocent civilians

Libya: the R 2 P test case? �Libya: UNSC authorized the use of force for human protection purpose without the consent of host state for the first time since the adoption of R 2 P �Similar cases in the past: Resolution 794 Resolution 929

Libya: the R 2 P test case? � Libya is an exceptional case in 4 ways *Gaddafi’s actions and words threatened massive scale of ethnic cleansing region *Notorious standing of Gaddafi’s regime in the *Conflict broke out in an extremely short time frame *little geopolitical significance of the country

Criticisms on International Community

Criticism #1 �Resolution 1973 was not tightly drawn �NATO’s actions had exceeded the UN Resolution �Criticisms from Russia, China, India, Brazil, and South Africa

�http: //edition. cnn. com/2011/WORLD/africa/08/19/l ibya. nato. analysis/index. html

civilian protection vs. regime change � The desire to protect innocent civilians gave rise to UN Resolution, but the operation switched its objective to regime change � 4 key pieces of evidence *Targeted retreating security forces *Targeted security forces in areas that were strongholds for Gaddafi *Provided intelligence and arms to rebels *Continued bombing after rebels rejected cease-fire offers � Likely consequences of NATO’s overly expansive interpretation of Resolution 1973

Criticism #2 � Should (which) regional organizations be given the gatekeeping role when relevant institutions adopt different positions on the authorization of force? � Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the League of Arab States (LAS) and African Union (AU) � The League of Arab States played a decisive role in changing the U. S. foreign policy and brokering the deal with China and Russia � Future outlook: Syria?

Evaluation

R 2 P criterion Just Cause ○ Right Intention △ Last Resort ○/△ Proportional Means △ Reasonable Prospects: short term ○ Reasonable Prospects: long term △ Right Authority ○/△

Just Cause: ○ �ICISS report: military intervention for the purpose of protecting civilians can be justified: large scale loss of life or ethnic cleansing �Gaddafi’s ominous ‘cockroaches’ threat and promised cleansing

Just Intention: △ � Is civilian protection the ultimate goal or is there an ulterior motive behind the intervention? � NATO established no-fly zone and protected the Libyan people from imminent danger � Intervention was taken place on a multilateral basis and supported by regional opinions and people for whose benefit is intended � Critics: the goal of protecting civilians became subordinated to the goal of overthrowing the regime

Last Resort: ○/△ �The last resort criterion requires alternative measures be attempted before resorting to military force. �Resolution 1970: Arms embargo, assets freeze, travel ban and referring the case to ICC �Gaddafi’s forces were closing on Benghazi, left the SC a binary option �Critics: little effort has been devoted into searching for a diplomatic solution

Proportional Means: △ � The scale of the intervention should be the minimum necessary to secure the humanitarian objective in question. � NATO-led operations alleviate humanitarian crisis in Libya, but the military actions had gone out of the scope that they were originally agreed to. � Rebels relied on NATO’s airstrikes to soften pro. Gaddafi area � Amr Moussa: “What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone. What we want is the protection of civilians and not the shelling of more civilians. ”

Reasonable Prospects: short term: ○ � NATO-led airstrike operation has achieved the humanitarian objective as it halted the humanitarian crisis in Libya Reasonable Prospects: short term: △ � Murky: gun battles between rival militias, weak governance and enforcement force, national instability � Whether the prompt response to the humanitarian crisis in Libya reflects a paradigm shift that has found its discursive manifestation in new international norm of the R 2 P remains uncertain

Right Authority: ○/△ �The intervention was authorized by the UNSC through the adoption of Resolution 1973. �The resolution specified the purpose of the use of force to protect civilians and limited the means to achieve that specific end �By taking the side with the rebels and directly targeting Qadhafi, NATO’s actions exceeded the UN mandate in breach of the Charter Law

Current Situation in Libya

Post-War Libya � First free election in the last six decades, took place on July 7, 2012 � New government: constitutional democracy respecting political pluralism and human rights? � Oil rich, eastern Libya threatens secession � Militia violence and turf wars have kept the country in chaos *The ethnic cleansing of “black” town of Tawergha *Military assaults on the U. S. Consulate in Benghazi in 2012

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Regional Spillover �Transit hub for terrorists: porous border and weak governance �Weapons proliferation from Libya Tuareg rebellion IDPs Secession and coup in Mali