The Libyan Crisis in Retrospect: Impacts on the Responsibility to Protect Doctrine?

Abstract

In 2011, the Arab Springs reached Libya and protests took place. They were harshly reprimanded by the Qaddafi regime and soon transformed into a real civil war. The international community didn’t remain idle. On the contrary, it reacted in an unprecedented rapid manner and intervened militarily. The military campaign turned out however to be questionable, above all in regard to its motives. In any event, the Libyan crisis and the subsequent intervention of the international community hit the headlines of all medias. This thesis tries to analyse the legal background of these events. The legal and political framework in which the Libyan crisis occurred is complex and often unclear. It is mainly based on a body of law which was elaborated in the aftermath of WW2. However, the international situation today is very different than at that time. Since the end of the Cold War, there has been a rise of internal conflicts which raises new issues. Moreover, a comprehensive body of human rights law developed. The old law of the use of force and of the United Nations has not adapted accordingly. The debate about humanitarian intervention appeared in this context. The failure of the international community to prevent large-scale humanitarian catastrophes in the nineties created an impetus for the elaboration of a new framework: the concept of responsibility to protect (hereinafter: RtoP). This is an evolving international doctrine that establishes a responsibility to protect civilians from mass atrocities. After a particularly rapid development and endorsement by the international community, this doctrine had the first occasion to find a practical application with the events in Libya. But was the international intervention of 2011 in Libya really an application of the RtoP doctrine? This is our main research question. We will try to find out to which extent the new concept influenced the events in Libya and, conversely, what impact the Libyan crisis had on the doctrine. First of all, we will look at the RtoP itself (Part 1). The legal background and the concept of humanitarian intervention will be addressed, before handling the development of RtoP and its standing. Then, we will link this knowledge to the Libyan crisis (Part 2). After a look at the course of events, the next step will be to try to assess the legitimacy of the intervention in this specific case. Finally, we will be able to evaluate what impact the Libyan crisis had on the doctrine of RtoP.