There has been an inevitable, and necessary, debate as to the extent of the UN mandate under Resolution 1973. On 14 April the NATO Secretary-General Anders Rasmussen stated that the NATO Foreign Ministers had sought to identify their “clear expression of unity and resolve” and reconfirmed their military objectives as follows: Much debate remains as to whether Resolution 1973 permits “boots on the mac eyeshadow swatchesground”. In other words, is the wording of the Resolution broad enough to permit the intervention of ground forces? On 15 April Rasmussen indicated the NATO had not discussed the matter to date, had not given consideration to seeking an adjustment of the mandate, and in any event was of the view that such action was “not mandated” under the Resolution.Whilst this represented a rapid development of a new international consensus in responding to State induced crimes against humanity and genocide, an issue remained as to how it would be actually implemented, especially if there was a need to secure Security Council support for a military intervention to halt the commission of these crimes.Crucial to the success of coalition military operations is that “all necessary measures” may be taken to achieve these ends. The only military limitation is that a “foreign occupation force of any form on any shoponline2011part of Libyan territory” is not permissible. A ban on all flights in Libyan airspace is imposed, creating the much sought after no-fly zone. An arms embargo is also imposed, permitting coalition forces to interdict vessels on the high seas suspected of running arms, including mercenaries, to Gadaffi.Over the past two months the international response to the Libyan crisis has been couched in the language of R2P, including not only from the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, but from various Heads of State and Foreign Ministers, including Kevin Rudd. R2P language is deeply imbedded in Resolution 1973 both in terms of its scope and its limitations. The focus is upon humanitarian action, designed to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack from the Libyan regime. First actively debated in the wake of the 1999 NATO intervention in Kosovo, in 2001 kiko cosmeticsformer Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans was a pivotal contributor to a report by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty that canvassed ways in which the international community had a responsibility to protect civilian populations from mass atrocity crimes. Mindful of the failure of the UN to adequately respond to these crimes in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s, Evans actively promoted R2P in UN corridors of power and world capitals. The doctrine eventually won significant support at the 2005 World Summit of the UN General Assembly.
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