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Abstract
An intense backlash against the norm of responsibility to protect (R2P) emerged following the 2011 United Nations (UN)-authorised intervention in Libya. This research assesses empirically how significantly the post-Libya backlash affected the normative acceptance of R2P and offers insight into where in the lifecycle of acceptance or rejection R2P currently falls. Through the collection and analysis of UN Security Council and Human Rights Council documents, this research creates an empirical picture of how often, when, and by whom R2P terminology has been referenced over time at the UN. The analysis reveals that post-Libya debate on R2P has not resulted in a decrease in rhetorical acceptance of the norm or a decrease in authorization of R2P framed policies. Instead, R2P has become further internalised and is increasingly utilised in the Security Council and Human Rights Council.
Acknowledgements
My deepest gratitude to Professor Michael W. Doyle, Director of the Columbia Global Policy Initiative for his guidance and support and to Alicia Evangelides, Assistant Director of the Columbia Global Policy Initiative. The research detailed in this article was also summarised on the openGlobal Rights blog of openDemocracy: Maggie Powers, ‘The Responsibility to Protect after Libya – Dead, Dying or Thriving?', openDemocracy, 24 June 2014, https://www.opendemocracy.net/openglobalrights-blog/maggie-powers/responsibility-to-protect-after-libya-%E2%80%93-dead-dying-or-thriving.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Maggie Powers is a project coordinator at the Columbia University Global Policy Initiative. She focuses on issues of migration, mobility and mass atrocities prevention and serves as the lead coordinator for the initiative's joint project on international migration with the Office of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for International Migration and Development. She is a graduate of Columbia University with a Master of Arts in Human Rights Studies where she specialised in the normative evolution of the responsibility to protect. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Political Science from Loyola University Chicago.
Notes
1 Francis M. Deng et al., eds, Sovereignty as Responsibility: Conflict Management in Africa (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1996).
2 Bernard Kouchner, ‘The Right to Intervention: Codified in Kosovo’, New Perspectives Quarterly 16, no. 4 (1999): 4–7, doi:10.1111/j.1540-5842.1999.tb00057.x.
3 Michael Barnett, Empire of Humanity: A History of Humanitarianism (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2011), 166.
4 David Rieff, ‘R2P, R.I.P.’, The New York Times, 7 November 2011, sec. Opinion, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/08/opinion/r2p-rip.html.
5 Data collection begins on 14 September 2005 as this is the first UNSC meeting to occur after the negotiation of the WSOD adopted at the UN General Assembly session held 14–16 September 2005.
6 Turkish statement to the UN Security Council, S/PV.6066: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 14 January 2009, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.6066.
7 Sudanese statement to the UN Security Council, S/PV.6216 (Resumption 1): Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 11 November 2009, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.6216(Resumption1).
8 Russian statement to the UN Security Council, S/PV.5577 (Resumption 1): Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 4 December 2006, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.5577(Resumption1).
9 UN Security Council, S/PV.5264: The Role of Civil Society in Conflict Prevention and the Pacific Settlement of Disputes, 20 September 2005, 16, 20, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.5264.
10 Cristina Gabriela Badescu, Humanitarian Intervention and the Responsibility to Protect: security and human rights (London: Routledge, 2010), 109.
11 Affirmative references from: Peru (5), Tanzania (4), Liechtenstein (3), Norway (3), Slovakia (3), South Korea (3), Canada (2), Denmark (2), Nepal (2), the UK (2), Argentina (1), Benin (1), China (1), France (1), Germany (1), Greece (1), Italy (1), Japan (1), Rwanda (1), Spain (1), Switzerland (1).
12 Neutral references from: Brazil (2), China (2), France (1), Russia (1), South Africa (1).
13 Russian statement at UN Security Council, S/PV.5319: The Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 9 December 2005, 19, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.5319. Egyptian statement at UN Security Council, S/PV.5319 (Resumption 1): Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 9 December 2005, 6, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.5319(Resumption1).
14 UN Security Council, S/PV.5319 (Resumption 1): Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 3.
15 UN Security Council, S/PV.5319: The Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 10.
16 UN Security Council, S/PV.5359: The Situation in the Great Lakes Region, 27 January 2006, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.5359; UN Security Council, S/PV.5359 (Resumption 1): The Situation in the Great Lakes Region, 27 January 2006, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.5359(Resumption1).
17 UN Security Council, Resolution 1674 (2006): Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 28 April 2006 2, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/RES/1674(2006).
18 UN General Assembly, 2005 World Summit Outcome: Resolution Adopted by the General Assembly, 24 October 2005, http://www.refworld.org/docid/44168a910.html.
19 Only one resolution on Sudan (A/HRC/RES/11/10) was not adopted by consensus.
20 UN Security Council, Resolution 1653 (2006): The Great Lakes Region; UN Security Council, Resolution 1706 (2006): Sudan, 31 August 2006, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/RES/1706(2006); UN Security Council, Resolution 1970 (2011): Peace and Security in Africa, 26 February 2011, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/RES/1970(2011); UN Security Council, Resolution 1973 (2011): Libya, 17 March 2011, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/RES/1973(2011).
21 UN Security Council, Resolution 1674 (2006): Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict; UN Security Council, Resolution 1894 (2009): Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 11 November 2009, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/RES/1894(2009).
22 UN Security Council, Resolution 1653 (2006): The Great Lakes Region.
23 UN Security Council, Resolution 1674 (2006): Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict; UN Security Council, Resolution 1706 (2006): Sudan; UN Security Council, Resolution 1894 (2009): Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict.
24 List of neutral references by country: China (9), South Africa (5), Qatar (4), Australia (2), Brazil (2), France (2), Russia (2), Slovakia (2), Turkey (2), the UK (2), Benin (1), Colombia (1), Japan (1), Libya (1), Mexico (1), Palestine (1), Papua New Guinea (1), Sudan (1), Uruguay (1).
25 List of neutral references by organisations: UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs (5), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (3), Commonwealth Secretary (1), European Union (1), UN Secretary-General (1).
26 UN Security Council, S/PV.5508: The Situation in the Middle East, 8 August 2006, 5, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.5508.
27 UN Security Council, S/PV.5663: Climate Change, 17 April 2007, 28, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.5663.
28 UN Security Council, S/PV.5898: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 27 May 2008, 18, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.5898.
29 UN Security Council, S/PV.5952: The Situation in Georgia, 8 August 2008, 5, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.5952.
30 References to primary R2P: Qatar (5); China (4); France (4); Russia (4); the UK (4); Austria (3); Burkina Faso (3); UN DPKO (3); Portugal (3); Sri Lanka (3); Denmark (2); Chile (2); Colombia (2); Costa Rica (2); Guatemala (2); Liechtenstein (2); Morocco (2); Nigeria (2); UN OCHA (2); Slovakia (2); Vietnam (2); Argentina (1); Belgium (1); Brazil (1); Congo-Brazzaville (1);Croatia (1); Egypt (1); Germany (1); Ghana (1); Iceland (1); Kenya (1); Norway (1); Peru (1); Rwanda (1); South Africa (1); South Korea (1); Spain (1); and SRSG on Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict (1).
31 References to shared R2P: Nigeria (6); France (5); Australia (4); Liechtenstein (4); Peru (4); the UK (4); the US (4); Panama (3); Slovakia (3); Turkey (3); Belgium (2); Denmark (2); Croatia (2); Guatemala (2); Iceland (2); Slovenia (2); South Korea (2); Tanzania (2); UN OCHA (2); Argentina (1); Benin (1); Congo-Brazzaville (1); Commonwealth Secretariat (1); Costa Rica (1); Ghana (1) Greece (1); India (1); Libya (1); Mexico (1); Norway (1); Portugal (1); Qatar (1); Rwanda (1); Spain (1); and UN Secretary-General (1).
32 Argentina (2); Canada (2); Costa Rica (2); Libya (2); Denmark (1); Croatia (1); France (1); Guatemala (1); Lebanon (1); Mexico (1); Palestine (1); Somalia (1); South Africa (1); Turkey (1); the UK (1); the US (1); and UN OCHA (1).
33 ‘Libyan Protesters Clash with Police in Benghazi’, The Guardian, 16 February 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/16/libyan-protesters-clash-with-police.
34 Colin Moynihan, ‘Libya's U.N. Diplomats Break With Qaddafi’, The New York Times, 21 February 2011, sec. World/Africa, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/world/africa/22nations.html.
35 ‘Gaddafi Vows to Crush Protesters', accessed 14 December 2012, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2011/02/2011225165641323716.html.
36 UN Security Council, Resolution 1970 (2011): Peace and Security in Africa.
37 UN Security Council, Resolution 1973 (2011): Libya, 3.
38 UN Security Council, Resolution 1973 (2011): Libya.
39 Jennifer M. Welsh, ‘Norm Contestation and the Responsibility to Protect’, Global Responsibility to Protect 5, no. 4 (January 1, 2013): 365–96, doi:10.1163/1875984X-00504002; Aidan Hehir, ‘The permanence of inconsistency: Libya, the Security Council, and the Responsibility to Protect', International Security 38, no.1 (2013): 137–159.
40 UN Security Council, S/PV.6490: Peace and Security in Africa, 25 February 2011, 2, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.6490; UN Security Council, S/PV.6491: Peace and Security in Africa, 26 February 2011, 5, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.6491.
41 UN Security Council, S/PV.6498: The Situation in Libya, 2.
42 ‘Arab League Condemns Broad Western Bombing Campaign in Libya’, Washington Post, http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-03-20/world/35260239_1_arab-league-amr-moussa-libyan-ground-forces (accessed 14 December 2012).
43 Barbara Plett, ‘UN Security Council Middle Powers' Arab Spring Dilemma’, BBC, 8 November 2011, sec. Middle East, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15628006.
44 W. Andy Knight and Frazer Egerton, eds, The Routledge Handbook of the Responsibility to Protect (London: Routledge, 2012), 266.
45 Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations, Responsibility While Protecting: Elements for the Development and Promotion of a Concept, 9 November 2011, http://www.un.int/brazil/speech/Concept-Paper-%20RwP.pdf.
46 Ruan Zongze, ‘Responsible Protection: Building a Safer World’, China Institute of International Studies, 15 June 2012, http://www.ciis.org.cn/english/2012-06/15/content_5090912.htm.
47 Gareth J. Evans, ‘The Responsibility to Protect Comes of Age’, Project Syndicate, 26 October 2011, http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-responsibility-to-protect-comes-of-age/english.
48 From the UK (3); Colombia (2); France (2); Guatemala (2); Organization of Islamic Cooperation (2); Rwanda (2); Turkey (2); Argentina (1); Brazil (1); Estonia (1); European Union (1); Germany (1); Lithuania (1); Qatar (1); Secretary-General (1); and Togo (1).
49 A/HRC/RES/S-18/1 adopted 5 December 2011; A/HRC/RES/19/22 adopted 23 March 2012; A/HRC/RES/S-19/1 adopted 1 June 2012; A/HRC/RES/20/22 adopted 6 July 2012; A/HRC/RES/21/26 adopted 28 September 2012; A/HRC/RES/22/24 adopted 22 March 2013; A/HRC/RES/23/1 adopted 29 May 2013; and A/HRC/RES/23/26 adopted 14 June 2013.
50 A/RES/66/253 B adopted 7 August 2012; A/C.3/67/L.52* adopted by the General Assembly Third Committee, 9 November 2012; A/67/L.63 adopted 8 May 2013; A/C.3/68/L.42/Rev.1 adopted 19 November 2013.
51 Thomas G. Weiss, ‘After Syria, Whither R2P?'. Into the Eleventh Hour (2014): 36.
52 UN Security Council, S/PV.6531: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, May 10, 2011, 10, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.6531.
53 UN Security Council, S/PV.6790: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 25 June 2012, 21, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.6790.
54 Ibid., 29.
55 UN Security Council, S/PV.6790: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, June 25, 2012, 25, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.6790.
56 Ibid., 28.
57 S/PRST/2012/18 and S/PRST/2012/28 on the LRA-affected region of Central Africa.
58 S/RES/2040 on Libya, S/RES/2085 on Mali, and S/RES/2093 on Somalia.
59 Resolutions 1970 and 1973 only included R2P references in the preamble so this may even be a stronger R2P reference.
60 S/RES/2085.
61 UN Security Council, S/PV.6917: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 12 February 2013, 53–4, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.6917.
62 Ibid., 66; UN Security Council, S/PV.7019: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 19 August 2013, 71, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.7019.
63 UN Security Council, S/PV.6917: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 19; UN Security Council, S/PV.6949: The Situation in the Middle East, 18 April 2013, 10, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.6949.
64 UN Security Council, S/PV.6903: United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, 21 January 2013, 17, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.6903.
65 UN Security Council, S/PV.6917 (Resumption 1): Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 12 February 2013, 45, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.6917(Resumption1).
66 UN Security Council, S/PV.6903: United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, 17.
67 UN Security Council, S/PV.6917: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 16; UN Security Council, S/PV.7019: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 19.
68 UN Security Council, S/PV.6917: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 27.
69 UN Security Council, S/PV.6917 (Resumption 1): Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 57.
70 Ibid., 14.
71 Ibid., 53.
72 UN Security Council, S/PV.6962: The Situation in Libya, 8 May 2013, 8, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.6962.
73 UN Security Council, S/PV.7019: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 18.
74 Resolutions 2093 on Somalia, 2095 on Libya, 2100 on Mali, 2109 on South Sudan, 2117 on Small Arms, and 2121 and 2127 on the Central African Republic.
75 S/PRST/2013/2 on the protection of civilians; S/PRST/2013/4 on peace and security in Africa; S/PRST/2013/15 on Syria; and S/PRST/2013/6 and S/PRST/2013/18 on the LRA-affected region of Central Africa.
76 UN Security Council, S/PV.7105: Maintenance of International Peace and Security, 29 January 2014, 60, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.7105.
77 UN Security Council, S/PV.7109: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 12 February 2014, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.7109.
78 S/PRST/2014/3 on the protection of civilians, S/RES/2134 on the Central African Republic, and S/RES/2139 on Syria.
79 In interviews conducted by the author all interviewees noted the highly accepted nature of primary responsibility of states and several interviewees commented that primary R2P language has become so commonplace in UNSC resolutions that it does not come up as an issue in negotiations.
80 Sudan said: ‘For example, with respect to the principle of the responsibility to protect, which we wish to endorse from this podium, even if it appears in the Millennium Declaration, it nevertheless remains open to very different interpretations. It is in contradiction with a principle enshrined in the Charter, namely, respect for national sovereignty and States’ primary responsibility for the protection of their civilians.’ UN Security Council, S/PV.7109: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 80.
81 References to primary R2P: China (7); South Africa (7); Germany (4); Colombia (3); France (3); Guatemala (3); European Union (3); Malaysia (3); the UK (3); Chile (2); India (2); Ireland (2); Kenya (2); Lithuania (2); Portugal (2); Switzerland (2); Armenia (1); Australia (1); Bangladesh (1); Benin (1); Bosnia and Herzegovina (1); Botswana (1); Brazil (1); Ecuador (1); Egypt (1); Estonia (1); Hungary (1); Indonesia (1); Iran (1); Italy (1); Japan (1); Jordan (1); Latvia (1); Morocco (1); Namibia (1); Nicaragua (1); Nigeria (1); Norway (1); Russia (1); Rwanda (1); Slovakia (1); South Korea (1); Sri Lanka (1); Sudan (1); Syria (1); Thailand (1); the US (1); Venezuela (1); Head of UN PKO in Cote d'Ivoire (1); UN DPKO (1); and UN OCHA (1).
82 References to shared responsibility: Guatemala (3); France (3); Brazil (3); Turkey (3); Australia (2); Croatia (2); UN Secretary-General (2); the US (2); Nigeria (2); Armenia (1); Chile (1); Denmark (1); Estonia (1); European Union (1); Fiji (1); Germany (1); Israel (1); Japan (1); Kuwait (1); Lebanon (1); Luxembourg (1); Namibia (1); Norway (1); Rwanda (1); Saudi Arabia (1); Slovenia (1); Sweden (1); the UK (1); and UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide (1).
83 References to UNSC responsibility: France (3); Rwanda (3); Organization of Islamic Cooperation (2); Turkey (2); Armenia (1); Azerbaijan (1); Chad (1); India (1); Lebanon (1); Namibia (1); Norway (1); and Portugal (1).