Refugees and Military Intervention in the Name of the Responsibility to Protect

Resolution 1973 is the first Security Council resolution authorising military intervention for the purposes of protecting civilians in the name of the Responsibility to Protect (‘R2P’) principle.¹ Specifically, the resolution condemns the attacks on civilians and gross human rights abuses taking place in Libya and authorises member states of the UN to ‘take all necessary measures … to protect civilian populations under threat of attack’ short of a foreign occupation force. R2P-language is found throughout the document, beginning with the responsibility of the Libyan authorities to protect the civilian population through to the determination of the Security Council to ‘ensure the protection of civilians and civilian populated areas’.²