The responsibility to protect: rethoric and reality in the intervention in Libya

Abstract

This thesis examines the normative development of the principle of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) from its initial conception, formulated by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, to its final endorsement in the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document. The evolution of R2P has precipitated the debate on the responsibilities of both individual states and the international community to protect populations against genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. The notion of R2P has been accepted as an umbrella term that is not limited to military intervention alone but includes a responsibility to prevent, react and rebuild. The military intervention in Libya has shown that the rhetoric of R2P when put into practice, has had to face the controversies surrounding the reality of the use of force as a legal and legitimate instrument of protection. The implementation of the R2P principle sought to avoid the challenges posed by the problematic legacy of humanitarian interventionism. However, these issues persist and must be constantly debated if the commitment to strengthen the legitimacy and the authority of the international community to end atrocity crimes is to be translated into effective protection of civilians.