Humanitarian Inverntion in

Libya
Sean Xiaosu Tian
Erina Fuse

Introduction

Libya

Muammar Gaddaf
1942-2011
Libyan Revolutionary

and Politician
Ruled Libya for 42
years
Rise in power at 1969
Coup d'tat
Seeks unifcation of
Africa and the Arab
World
Libyan Civil War

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

Historical Background
-Arab SpringTunisia

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 clanTripolitania

Warfalla, Zuwarah,
Zintan
Sirte
Qaddadfa, Magarha,
Marharba
Cyrenaica
Zuwayya, Majabra,
Abaydat
Fezzan
Tubou, Tuareg

Historical Background
-Oil ResourcesRich in oil resource in the Eastern Libya
Gaddaf 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
Gaddafs force retakes the majority of cities
UN Resolution 1973 adopted
France, UK, US intervened in Libya
NATO intervenes
August
End of Gaddafs regime
October
Gaddaf 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 fghting 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 frst
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 Gaddaf and his relatives
Travel ban for the members closely related
to the Gaddaf 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 Unifed Protector; arms

embargo, no-fly 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 Gaddaf and his brother in
law for crimes against humanity including murder
and persecution
August 18
International Criminal Court plans to negotiate the
transfer of Gaddaf and his members for crime
against humanity
August 24
Rebels captured Gaddafs son and controlled Tripoli

Action of Arab League

22 February

Criticized indiscriminate bombing and

mercenarys 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 ceasefre 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 ceasefre
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 Gaddaf

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
Gaddafs bloody agenda for ethnic cleansing,
killed thousands of peaceful protesters
Gaddaf 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
R2P

Libya: the R2P test case?

The origin of R2P
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 justifcation for the use of force: protect
innocent civilians

Libya: the R2P test case?

Libya: UNSC authorized the use of force for

human protection purpose without the

consent of host state for the frst time since
the adoption of R2P
Similar cases in the past:
Resolution 794
Resolution 929

Libya: the R2P test case?

Libya is an exceptional case in 4 ways

*Gaddafs actions and words threatened

massive scale of ethnic cleansing
*Notorious standing of Gaddafs regime in the
region
*Conflict broke out in an extremely short
frame

time

*little geopolitical signifcance of the country

Criticisms on International
Community

Criticism #1
Resolution 1973 was not tightly drawn
NATOs actions had exceeded the UN

Resolution
Criticisms from Russia, China, India, Brazil,
and South Africa

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/0

8/19/libya.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 Gaddaf
*Provided intelligence and arms to rebels
*Continued bombing after rebels rejected
cease-fre offers
Likely consequences of NATOs 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

R2P 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

justifed: large scale loss of life or ethnic
cleansing
Gaddafs 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 beneft 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
Gaddafs 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 NATOs airstrikes to soften proGaddaf 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 R2P remains uncertain

Right Authority: /
The intervention was authorized by the

UNSC through the adoption of Resolution

1973.
The resolution specifed the purpose of the
use of force to protect civilians and limited
the means to achieve that specifc end
By taking the side with the rebels and
directly targeting Qadhaf, NATOs 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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNThGzK

kcLY

Regional Spillover
Transit hub for terrorists: porous border and

weak governance
Weapons proliferation from Libya

Tuareg rebellion IDPs

Secession and coup in Mali