Yiliu Lu & Qi Zhang
GSICCS
June 26th, 2013
Humanitarian Intervention and
the Libyan/ Syrian Conflicts
1. Introduction
2. R2P
3. Conflicts in Libyan & Syrian
4. Chinese Views
5. Conclusion
Introduction
R2P / Pillar Three
Responsibility to Protect

A United Nations initiative established in 2005

Sovereignty is not a right, but a responsibility

4 crimes: genocide, war crimes, crimes against
humanity, and ethnic cleansing (Mass Atrocity
Crimes)
Introduction
The R2P has three "pillars"
a. A state has a responsibility to protect its
population from mass atrocities;
b. The international community has a responsibility
to assist the state to fulfill its primary
responsibility;
c. If the state fails to protect its citizens from mass
atrocities and peaceful measures have failed, the
international community has the responsibility to
intervene through coercive measures such as
economic sanctions. Military intervention is
considered the last resort.
Introduction
Through global governance mechanisms and
international accountability instruments, the emerging
powers will determine whether：
• a)
brutish rulers
domestically
• b)
regional or global
major powers
protect
protect
vulnerable
groups
weak
countries
• c) violators of both are made to answer for their
transgressions.
Introduction
3 Preliminary Things.
1. External interventions were frequent in the
past, and are not guaranteed in the future.
The choice therefore is not if intervention,
but whether an intervention will be:

ad hoc or rules-based

unilateral or multilateral

divisive or consensual
Introduction
2. The debate over R2P is not, and should not
become, a North-South issue. But it can turn
into one.
non-Western societies: a historical tradition of reciprocal
rights and obligations which bind sovereigns and subjects.
3. The only likely sites and targets of
intervention in the foreseeable future will be
developing countries.
Humanitarian Intervention and
the Libyan/ Syrian conflicts
R2P
R2P before 2001
R2P
R2P before 2001
R2P
R2P before 2001
NATO
Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia(FRY)
Kosovo Liberation Army
R2P
R2P before 2001
In an address to the 54th session of the UN General Assembly
in September 1999, Secretary-General Kofi Annan reflected
upon “the prospects for human security and intervention in
the next century”.
He recalled the failures of the Security Council to act in
Rwanda and Kosovo, and challenged the member states of the
UN to “find common ground in upholding the principles of the
Charter, and acting in defense of our common humanity.”
R2P
R2P before 2001
At the United Nations General Assembly in 2000, Kofi Annan
again posed the central question starkly and directly:
… if humanitarian intervention is, indeed,
an unacceptable assault on sovereignty,
how should we respond to a Rwanda, to
gross and systematic violations of human
rights that affect every precept of our
common humanity? …
R2P
R2P before 2001
In September 2000, the Government of Canada responded to
the Secretary-General’s challenge by announcing the
establishment of this independent International Commission
on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS).
Objectives:
• to build a broader understanding of the problem of
reconciling intervention for human protection purposes and
sovereignty
• to develop a global political consensus on how to move
from polemics towards action within the international
system, particularly through the United Nations
R2P
R2P since 2001
The R2P report was published in December
2001 and endorsed by the UN High-level Panel
on Threats, Challenges, and Change in 2004,
as well as by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
in 2005:
•
•
•
•
war crimes
Genocide
ethnic cleansing
crimes against humanity
R2P
But in principle, the 2005 formulation on R2P:


not cover humanitarian disasters
not cover situations of interstate armed
conflict
“it is not appropriate to expand, willfully to
interpret or even abuse this concept”
Humanitarian Intervention and
the Libyan/ Syrian conflicts
Libya 2011
Libyan Civil War (2011)
Those who Loyal
to Gaddafi,
support the
government
Those who seek to
oust Gaddafi,
against the
government
Libya 2011
Gaddafi has vowed to fight on and die a
"martyr", calling on his supporters to take back
the streets from protesters in a furious speech
on state TV :
“ I am a fighter, a revolutionary from tents ... I
will die as a martyr at the end… ”
“… Peaceful protests is one thing, but armed
rebellion is another… I have not yet ordered
the use of force, not yet ordered one bullet to
be fired. When I do, everything will burn…”
“ You men and women who love Gaddafi ...get
out of your homes and fill the streets," he said.
"Leave your homes and attack them in their
lairs ... Starting tomorrow the cordons will be
lifted, go out and fight them! ”
Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2011/02/201122216458913596.html
Libya 2011
Faced with Gaddafi’s imminent intention to massacre the city’s
population, it was clear that tough international action in
response to the Libyan government’s failure of protecting its
civilians was needed to halt the terrible mass violence.
Rather than stand by and risk failing to act while more
civilians had been subject to mass violence, R2P quickly took
action to prevent a bloodbath.
Outcome: a triumph for R2P
“It took just one month to mobilize a broad coalition, secure a
UN mandate to protect civilians, establish and enforce no-kill
zones, stop Gaddafi’s advancing army, and prevent a
massacre of the innocents in Benghazi. By year’s end, Gaddafi
had been ousted and killed” (Ramesh T., 2013).
Syria 2012
By the end of 2011, the peaceful Arab
Spring → a bloody armed uprising →
civil war
Syria 2012
Syrian Civil War (2012)




is an ongoing armed conflict in Syria between
forces loyal to the Syrian Ba'ath Party
government and those seeking to oust it
part of the Arab Spring.
Protesters demanded the resignation of
President Bashar al-Assad
International organizations have accused both
government and opposition forces of severe
human rights violations.
Syria 2012
Possible courses of action in Syria
cannot be contemplated


relations with Iran, Russia, and China
another Western invasion of another Muslim
country
Oct.4,2011, Feb.4, 2012, Jul.19,2012
• China and Russia: vetoed
• Brazil, India, South Africa: abstention →
support
Syria 2012
China and Russia:
opposed to any resolution in Syria
 put Syria on the path to civil war
 the Security Council should not dictate internal politics and
succession
 opposition groups must also receive condemnation for
perpetrating violence and must be exhorted to engage
constructively with the government
 the draft resolutions would have inflamed, not calmed the
situation
 the only solution to the Syrian crisis is through an inclusive,
Syrian-led process to address the legitimate aspirations of
the people in an environment free of violence and human
rights abuses
Syria 2012
India and South Africa:
resolve internal differences through peaceful
means
Brazil:
played a more constructive role by tabling a
possible compromise paper
Humanitarian Intervention and
the Libyan/ Syrian conflicts
Chinese views
China’s Authoritative Stance
Authoritatively, China supports a just, peaceful, and
appropriate resolution of the crisis using political means,
but not military means.
• urged the international community, through the UN,
to call on all sides to “discard violence” and “address
problems through dialogue”
• opposed all attempts to employ international bodies to
single out and direct critical or coercive words or
actions against the Syrian regime
Chinese views
China’s Authoritative Stance
In general, China has taken the position that the
application of the R2P norm:
• should not contravene the principle of state
sovereignty and the principle of non-interference in
internal affairs that are contained in the UN Charter
• must be considered in the broader context
maintaining international peace and security
of
Chinese views
China’s Authoritative Stance
China has repeatedly uttered the following statement or
variants since the beginning of the Syrian unrest:
Our fundamental point of departure is to
safeguard the purposes and principles of the UN
Charter as well as the basic norms governing
international relations, including the principles of
sovereign equality and non-interference in
others' internal affairs, to safeguard the interests
of the Syrian people and the Arab states, and to
safeguard the interests of all countries, small and
medium-sized in particular. This is China's
consistent stance in all international affairs. It is
not targeted at a particular issue or time.
Chinese views
China’s Authoritative Stance
Chinese officials and authoritative spokespersons strongly
criticized the military actions undertaken by U.S. and NATO
forces in Libya, declaring China‘s opposition to not only the
use of force in international relations but also the abuse of
force that can cause more civilian casualties and a bigger
humanitarian crisis, and called for ―an immediate ceasefire
and a peaceful settlement of the issue.
Chinese views
Non-Authoritative Chinese Views
explicit and full-throated criticism of Western—
and especially U.S.
•
The resolution would lead to the West
bombarding another Arab state, and fears
regarding the potentially disastrous
consequences for Syria and the region of Western
military involvement
Chinese views
• Beijing‘s stance on the Syria crisis is influenced
by the absence of the kind of economic and direct
humanitarian interests that were present in the
Libyan case, as well as the position taken by
Russia.
• Efforts to remove Assad through force would
prove futile and lead only to a chaotic, prolonged
conflict and a highly unstable post-civil war
political situation
Chinese views
• Some observers blame the West for assisting in
the militarization of the dispute by encouraging
and assisting armed resistance to the Syrian
government.
• Syrian conflict provided a clear demonstration of
crisis and mass killing, while Libyan conflict
involved a civil war and military gridlock.
• Any settlement of the Syrian conflict must leave
the Syrian government with a chance for survival,
since not doing so will force it to ―fight to the
end.
Humanitarian Intervention and
the Libyan/ Syrian conflicts
Conclusions
China’s stance on such issues seems
primarily motivated by
• Preventing the establishment of legal or
procedural precedents for military interventions
by the international community against sovereign
states.
• Preventing Western powers, and especially the
United States.
Conclusions
China’s stance on such issues seems
primarily motivated by
• A strong desire to prevent democratic states from
establishing a principled basis for outside
intervention in the internal affairs of nondemocratic states, including China.
• In the Syrian case, Beijing’s resistance to even
targeted criticism of the Assad regime is
motivated to a great degree by the Libya
experience.
Conclusions
 More could be done to avoid mass violence;
 Somebody somewhere has the responsibility to
make judgment and take action;
 PREVENTION rather than just REACTION.