The new politics of protection? Côte d'Ivoire, Libya and the responsibility to protect

International Affairs

Volumn 87, Issue 4, 2011, Pages 825-850

  Bellamy, Alex J ^a   Williams, Paul D ^b  

^a GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^b GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 79960033863     PISSN: 00205850     EISSN: 14682346     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2346.2011.01006.x     Document Type: Article

References (87)

1. On the centrality of human protection to the work of the UN, see Ban Ki-moon, 'Human protection and the 21st century United Nations', Cyril Foster Lecture, Oxford University, 2 Feb. 2011
2. The fact that the Security Council's work is increasingly focused on protection was recognized by several member states at the Council's May 2011 meeting on the issue. See UN Security Council, S/PV.6531, 10 May 2011
3. UN General Assembly, '2005 summit outcome', A/60/L.1, 20 Sept. 2005, paras 138-40; Gareth Evans, The responsibility to protect (Washington DC: Brookings Institution, 2008); Alex J. Bellamy, Responsibility to protect (Cambridge: Polity, 2009); Ramesh Thakur, The responsibility to protect (London: Routledge, 2011
4. Most notably Implementing the responsibility to protect, A/63/677, 12 Jan. 2009
5. See Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, 'ABACQ and the fifth committee negotiations on the joint office', Jan. 2011
6. See UN Security Council, Protection of civilians, Cross-Cutting Report no. 2 (New York, 14 Oct. 2008
7. While the resolution enjoyed broad support within the Council and the wider membership, there was some scepticism about the Secretary General's approach, notably from India and Egypt. See S/PV.4046 (resumption 1), Sept. 199917
8. OCHA Policy Development and Studies Branch, Aide-memoire for the consideration of issues pertaining to the protection of civilians (New York, 2004). OCHA proposed a revised version in early 2009, which was welcomed by the Security Council. See S/PV.6066, 14 Jan. 2009
9. Report of the Secretary-General on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, S/2007/643, 28 Oct. 2007. For the Security Council's reaction, see S/PV.5781, 20 Nov. 2007
10. Siobhan Wills, Protecting civilians: the obligations of peacekeepers (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009
11. Victoria K. Holt and Glyn Taylor with Max Kelly, Protecting civilians in the context of UN peacekeeping operations (UN DPKO/OCHA, 2009
12. Report of the Panel on UN Peace Operations, A/55/305-S/2000/809, 21 Aug. 2000
13. Ian Johnstone, 'Managing consent in contemporary peacekeeping operations', International Peacekeeping 18: 2, 2011168-82
14. See S/PV.6427, 22 Nov. 2010
15. Abu Bakarr Bah, 'Democracy and civil war: citizenship and peacemaking in Cote d'Ivoire', African Affairs 109: 437, 2010601
16. Ruth Marshall-Fratani, 'The war of "who is who": autochthony, nationalism and citizenship in the Ivoirian crisis', African Studies Review , 2006, pp. 9-43; Daniel Chirot, 'The debacle in Cote d'Ivoire', Journal of Democracy 17: 2, 200663-77492
17. Bah, 'Democracy and civil war'602.
18. Bah, 'Democracy and civil war' 605
19. Afraid and forgotten: lawlessness, rape and impunity in western Cote d'Ivoire (New York, Oct. 2010), p. 15. On the wider pattern of abuses,Human Rights Watch, see Human Rights Watch, Trapped between two wars: violence against civilians in western Cote d'Ivoire (New York, Aug. 2003
20. Maja Bovcon, 'France's conflict resolution strategy in Cote d'Ivoire and its ethical implications', African Studies Quarterly :, 2009, p. 7; Moya Collett, 'Foreign intervention in Cote d'Ivoire: the question of legitimacy', in Tony Coady and Michael O'Keefe, eds, Righteous violence (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2005160-82111
21. Bovcon, 'France's conflict resolution strategy', 11
22. Bah, 'Democracy and civil war', p. 613; Bovcon, 'France's conflict resolution strategy', 13
23. For example, International Crisis Group (ICG), Cote d'Ivoire: finally escaping the crisis, Africa Briefing no. 77 (Brussels, 25 Nov. 2010
24. ICG, Cote d'Ivoire: is war the only option, Africa Report no. 171 (Brussels, 3 March 20111
25. ICG, Cote d'Ivoire: is war the only option,8
26. Scott Straus, 'It's sheer horror here: patterns of violence during the first four months of Cote d'Ivoire's electoral crisis', African Affairs, advance access 19 May 2011, accessed 17 June 2011
27. Rebecca Friedrichs, 'Timeline: election crisis in Cote d'Ivoire' (Washington DC, Stimson Center), accessed 12 June 2011
28. Update report: Cote d'Ivoire, 14 Jan. The position of Russia and China is particularly interesting given that both had expressed concern about this policy in informal UN Security Council, consultations and preferred a technical resolution focusing on UNOCI and leaving political matters aside2011
29. Michael McGovern, 'The Ivoirian endgame', Foreign Affairs, 14 April 2011, accessed 12 June 2011
30. McGovern, 'Ivoirian endgame'
31. Voice of America, 'UN spokesman: Gbagbo not Ivory Coast president', 18 Dec. 2010
32. UN press release, 'Secretary General's Special Advisers on the Prevention of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect on the situation in Cote d'Ivoire', 29 Dec. 2010
33. UN, statement attributed to Secretary General's Special Advisers on the Prevention of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect on the situation in Cote d'Ivoire, 19 Jan. 2011
34. Authors' conversations with UN officials, Feb. 2011
35. Thalif Deen, 'Cote d'Ivoire: UN tight lipped on use of military force', Inter Press Service, 7 Jan. 2011
36. S/2011/5, Letter from the Secretary General of the United Nations to the Security Council, 7 Jan. 2011
37. 'Ivory Coast shelling in Abidjan a war crime-UN', BBC News, 18 March
38. 'Ivory Coast: more than 100 bodies found', BBC News, 8 April 2011.
39. The specific reference to heavy weapons was an unusual addition to a civilian protection mandate and may have been deliberately inserted by France to foreground its planned military action in conjunction with UNOCI
40. All quotes from S/PV.6508, 30 March 2011
41. Thabo Mbeki, 'What the world got wrong in Cote d'Ivoire', Foreign Policy, 29 April 2011, accessed 12 June 2011
42. 'Russia lashes out at UN military action in Cote d'Ivoire', Associated Press, 6 April 2011
43. S/PV.6531, 10 May ,92011
44. S/PV.6531, 10 May 11 2011
45. Quoted in 'Ivory Coast: UN forces fire on pro-Gbagbo camp', BBC News, 4 April 2011
46. Ban Ki-moon, 'Address to the Sofia platform', 6 May 2011, accessed 12 June 2011
47. 'Ivory Coast: Gbagbo troops "hit" Ouattara HQ', BBC News, 10 April 2011
48. Simon Chesterman, ed., Secretary or general The UN Secretary-General in world politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007
49. Authors' correspondence with Western diplomat in New York, 28 April 2011
50. Statement by ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo on the situation in Cote d'Ivoire, 21 Dec. 2010, accessed 12 June 2011
51. McGovern, 'The Ivoirian endgame'
52. The 'Mass Atrocity Crime Watch List' did not include Libya in its list of 33 'at risk' countries (); nor did Barbara Harff's list of 27 countries (). Minority Rights Group International did not list Libya among the 68 countries posing a risk to minorities in 2010 (), and Libya was not an 'area of concern' for the Genocide Intervention Network (), all last accessed 12 June 2011
53. 'Defiant Gaddafi issues chilling call', ABC (Australia), 23 Feb. 2011
54. 'Libya attacks may be crimes against humanity: UN', Reuters, 22 Feb. 2011
55. UN press release, statement by the UN Secretary General Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Francis Deng, and the Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect, Edward Luck, on the situation in Libya, 22 Feb. 2011
56. See Arabic original statement, accessed 12 May 2011
57. AU document PSC/PR/COMM(CCLXI), 23 Feb. 2011
58. SC/10180-AFR/2120, 22 Feb. 2011
59. On 3 March, the ICC prosecutor said his office was investigating crimes against humanity that may have been committed by Qadhafi's regime
60. S/PV.6491, 26 Feb. 2011
61. Cited in Security Council, Update report no. 1, Libya, 14 March 2011
62. Bruce D. Jones, 'Libya and the responsibilities of power', Survival 535320113
63. 'NATO ready to support international efforts on Libya', NATO, 10 March 2011, accessed 12 June 2011
64. 'Final communique issue by the emergency meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to the Organization of the Islamic Conference on the Alarming developments in Libyan Jamahiriya, 8 March 2011, accessed 12 June 2011
65. Council of the League of Arab States, Res. no. 7360, 12 March , paras 1 and 22011
66. Thanks to Louise Fawcett for helpful advice on some of these points. On Arab attitudes towards humanitarian intervention and R2P, see Gulf Research Centre, Arab perspectives and formulations on humanitarian intervention in the Arab countries (Dubai, UAE, Gulf Research Council Event Papers, 2005), esp. pp. 68-87; Bassma Kodmani, 'The imported, supported, and homegrown security of the Arab world', in Chester Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson and Pamella Aall, eds, Rewiring regional security (Washington DC: US Institute of Peace Press, 2011240-42
67. Christopher Blanchard, Libya: unrest and US policy (Washington DC: Congressional Research Service, 29 March 201119
68. 'Libya's Gaddafi hurls insults at king', The Age (Australia), 31 March 2009
69. AU document PSC/PR/COMM.2(CCLXV), 10 March 2011
70. Josh Rogin, 'How Obama turned on a dime toward war', 18 March 2011, accessed 12 June 2011
71. Jones, 'Libya and the responsibilities of power',54
72. See S/PV.6498, 17 March 2011
73. Lebanon was acting as the representative of the LAS.
74. All quotes from S/PV.6498, 17 March 2011
75. See , accessed 12 June 2011
76. Cited in 'Arab League criticises western strikes in Libya', Straits Times, 20 March 2011
77. S/PV.6528, 4 May 20118
78. S/PV.6528, 9
79. S/PV.6528, 11
80. S/PV.6531, 10 May 2011, 10
81. S/PV.6531,21
82. S/PV.6531, 9
83. S/PV.6531,11
84. S/PV.6531,18
85. S/PV.6531,20
86. Holt et al., Protecting civilians; Alison Giffen, Addressing the doctrinal deficit: developing guidance to prevent and respond to widespread or systematic attacks against civilians, workshop report (Washington DC: Stimson Center, 2010
87. Preventing genocide: a blueprint for US policymakers (Washington DC: US Institute of Peace, 2008); Sarah Sewall, Dwight Raymond and Sally Chin, Mass atrocity response operations: a military planning handbook (Cambridge, MA:Genocide Prevention Task Force, Harvard Kennedy School and US Army Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute, 2010