The situation in revolutionary Libya has many things in common with other vulnerable regions of the world. First, the utmost relevant issue is worsening situation with human rights, when the government is accused of losing legitimacy in the eyes of its own population and international community. Kosovo, South Sudan, Eastern Timor, South Ossetia and Nagorno Karabakh – have all previous been cases of foreign military intervention, orchestrated by pivotal states or regional arrangements and aimed at stopping widespread violations of internationally recognized human rights, improving the human rights record in the target area, including, but not limited to, creating relevant atmosphere of peace and nation-birthing.

The situation in Libya, as well as in other aforementioned cases, has clearly been resulted by inability or unwillingness of the government to fulfill its primary erga omnes obligation of protecting its population, and on the contrary – placed them under direct threat by attacking major cities, like Benghazi, with military aircrafts. Such a situation elsewhere would give rise to international concerns and calls for immediate preventive action. As the road leading to foreign intervention into Libya is now paved by the latest UNSC Res. 1973,  previous cases of conflict resolution, as well as the doctrine, need to be addressed. Interestingly, the non-formal alliance of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and Germany abstained from supporting this resolution on March 18 voting.

All in all, the doctrine of humanitarian intervention, transformed into “Responsibility to Protect”, or R2P policy in 2005, has a disputable role in different practices of conflict resolution across the world. While not being a universally recognized measure, it had its rebirth in early 1990s, reached the peak in Kosovo of 1999 and transformed in 2005. Most important side of the transformation comes with changing perception of its nature: from “duty to intervene” policies in Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Haiti in early 1990s to the level of international responsibility (R2P) of Georgia in August 2008 and today in Libya. A military intervention of regional organizations or arrangements, “deemed necessary for the benefit of the Libyan people” (UNSC wording), would also recall the relevant calls of Arab League to stop atrocities and act in the name of suffering people of Libya. Bearing this in mind, experts may recall the Sumgayit and Baku pogroms of Armenians in 1988-1990, Maragha massacre of 1992 and other instances of internationally wrongful acts perpetrated against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijani government as a justification of limited military intervention of Armenia into the conflict. So far the succeeding Armenian authorities failed to employ this doctrine to legally ground its limited military involvement in 1992-94, whereas the facts had been there, including those documented military attacks of Azerbaijan to Armenia-proper.

Of course, many voices claim that the economic reasons of interventions prevail those of humanitarian nature. In Kosovo that was the coal mines, in Southern Sudan and now, allegedly, in Libya – that is oil; whereas Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia and Eastern Timor give rise to purely humanitarian considerations. The latter cases cannot be excluded, and considering the track record, the pessimists would be forced to find more appropriate arguments in the discussion.

In any way, a foreign intervention requires unambiguous assessments by the international community that a particular situation, caused by central government’s (in)action endangers international (regional) peace and security. There were four resolutions in 1993 about Nagorno-Karabakh and not less numbers over Kosovo (1998-99), Sudan (2003 and onwards) and East Timor (2006) – speaking about conflict implications for regional security and thus justifying a foreign military intervention in each case by an ad hoc coalition or a pivotal state. In some interventions, like Kosovo, that was a security organization responsible for that particular region; in others like Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia and East Timor that was a pivotal state with or without ad hoc “coalition of the willing” (term coined by US President Bill Clinton in 1994). The latter was intervened at the request of East Timorese Government in 2006 by an Australia-led coalition, whereas newly independent Armenia of early 1990s left alone in the face of regional instability caused by Azerbaijani aggression against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Other states, like Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Italy, France, Belgium and United States had been active to promote half-effective peace talks since September 1991 until May 1994 – between Zheleznovodsk communiqué and Bishkek Protocol.

Getting back to Libya, the first UNSC resolution 1970 condemned the atrocities across Libya, called for international accountability of its authorities and referred the case to International Criminal Court, to which Libya, by the way, is not a state-party. The latter established once more that irrelevant the accession to Rome Statute, UNSC is empowered to referring cases to this chamber of international justice. This would be particularly relevant if the Azerbaijani authorities and military bosses if they follow own words and shoot down civilian aircrafts flying to Stepanakert airport of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
The current situation over Libya should be an urgent call to international community not to consider the Westphalian-era notions of unconditional sovereignty as a “protective shield” for rouge states in their business of widespread atrocities against their own people. UNSC resolutions like 1973 are yet a small, but courageous step towards this.
Concluding, I would recall Sir Ian Brownlie – a true doyen and well-known authority on international law – saying that a humanitarian intervention is like the issue of euthanasia: giving it a legal force is capable of crash the international order, although it is the only relevant measure in exceptional circumstances.

Hovhannes Nikoghosyan is a research fellow and post-graduate from Slavonic University, Armenia.