Humanitarian Intervention in International Law and Libya Case: Lessons for Syria today and tomorrow

Abstract

The Libya intervention and civil war in the Syria renders humanitarian intervention a crucial matter for discussion on the way whether or not international law allows this kind of use of force. After establishing of the UN, international law order does not reply in the affirmative way to the discussion about humanitarian interventions as a new exception to the prohibition of the use of force. Such an exception based of humanitarian intervention in the 1990s has been referred once again with the approaches of ‘legitimate intervention’ and ‘responsibility to protect’ in the light of state practices and writings of scholars. It is quite clear that these approaches are not compatible with the well-established rule of the prohibition of the use of force and its strictly defined exceptions. The Libya intervention is an important benchmark test for that picture. Ongoing civil war in the Syria, on the other hand, evidences the necessity for alternative measures other than humanitarian intervention.

Keywords

Humanitarian Intervention, Responsibility to Protect, Libya, Syria.

Citation

Sak, Yıldıray, “Humanitarian Intervention in International Law and Libya Case: Lessons for Syria today and tomorrow”, International Relations, Volume 11, Issue 44 (Winter 2015), pp. 121-153.

Affiliations

• Yıldıray SAK, Assistant Professor, Maltepe University, Law Department