ISS Seminar, Pretoria: The Norm of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) after Libya

Date: 2011-11-17

Venue: , ISS Conference Room Block C, Brooklyn Court, 361 Veale Street, New Muckleneuk,

RSVP:
Sarah Malefo
Tel: 012 346 9500
Fax: 012 460 0997

Since the Treaty of Westphalia, sovereignty has been backed by the norm of nonintervention. By contrast, the responsibility to protect (R2P) strikes a balance between unauthorised unilateral interventions and institutionalised indifference. With a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Libya in early 2011, the United Nations authorised the use of force to protect an apprehended imminent slaughter of civilians but prohibited taking sides in the internal civil war, intervening with ground troops, or effecting forcible regime change. The record of NATO actions in Libya mark a triumph for R2P but also raise questions about how to prevent the abuse of UN authority to use international force for purposes beyond human protection.

CHAIRPERSON: Dr Jakkie Cilliers, Executive Director, Institute for Security Studies

KEY SPEAKER: Professor of International Relations, Australian National University, Australia.  Prof Thakur was one of the original R2P commissioners who has remained active on this issue over the past decade.

ISS Rules:

Participants are free to use the information presented, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participants, may be revealed without his/her express permission.