Military strikes in Yemen in 2015: intervention by invitation and self-defence in the course of Yemen’s ‘model transitional process’

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe international community has apparently accepted that Operation Decisive Storm, a Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen in 2015, is in compliance with Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. Against the background of the all-inclusive Yemeni transition heralded by the international community as a ‘model process’, this article analyses the implications of the Yemeni conflict for the evolution of accepted exceptions to the prohibition of the use of force. First, the intervening coalition’s core argument – the doctrine of intervention by invitation – is examined, addressing the impact of an ongoing ‘civil war situation’ and the ineffectiveness of a legitimate but ousted government. The juxtaposition of the Yemeni conflict with recent interventions by invitation in Mali, Ukraine, Iraq and Syria demonstrates that the government’s consent has a legitimising effect during an ‘established transitional process’. Second, it will be argued that the claim to (individual and collective) self-defence has only limited value in the present scenario.