Article

Operation Unified Protector and the protection of civilians in Libya

Chris De Cock

• Yearbook of international humanitarian law, Vol. 14, 2011, p. 213-235

English

Bibliographie : p. 233-235

This paper focuses on the following issues: the mandate of the Security Council and its implication for the use of force under the jus ad bellum and current challenges in targeting under the jus in bello. Under the jus ad bellum and in accordance with the Charter, the Council shall determine that a threat to international peace and security exists. Only then can the Council decide to take coercive measures to restore international peace and security. This raises three questions. Firstly, what where the factual circumstances giving rise to a determination by the Council that such a threat existed? Only then could the Security Council impose decisions (or recommendations) to cope with the situations. Interestingly, no direct reference to a threat to international peace and security can be identified in UNSCR 1970. Secondly, how did UNSCR 1973 affect the applicable jus in bello? Did the Council restrict the use of force to the protection of the civilian population and the enforcement of the No Fly Zone and the arms embargo? Thirdly, did the hostilities amount to an armed conflict triggering the applicability of the law of armed conflict? In the second part, some targeting issues are covered briefly, more particularly the validity of military targets, such as the Tripoli broadcasting facility, mercenary staging points, and police stations as legitimate military objectives. The complexity of the decision making process, especially in the context of deliberate targeting and the neccesity to adapt the targeting process in view of the rapidly changing situation on the ground will be assessed.

• Full text : only from ICRC headquarters

• Yearbook of international humanitarian law
• Yearbook of international humanitarian law [Vol. 14, 2011]