From Sudan to Syria: Locating ‘Regime Change’ in R2P and the ICC*
In: Global Responsibility to ProtectSearch for other papers by Nesam McMillan in
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Recently, R2P and the ICC have been mobilised in different forms to respond to state-directed mass atrocities in Sudan, Libya and Syria. Notably, this has generated debate over the capacity and legitimacy of using R2P and the ICC to facilitate ‘regime change’ in those cases and beyond. This article critically examines where regime change, as an aim and outcome, sits within R2P and ICC doctrine and practice. We demonstrate the ambiguous position of regime change in R2P and ICC doctrine, where it is not explicitly endorsed as an objective but actions that may lead to it are permitted. In practice, R2P and the ICC have been used to starkly different ends in the three cases. Such ambiguity—about what regime change is, and about how far international intervention can legitimately go—and inconsistency in application, can undermine global support for R2P and the ICC as tools for preventing and responding to atrocities.
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4
Alex J. Bellamy, ‘Responsibility to Protect or Trojan horse? The Crisis in Darfur and Humanitarian Intervention after Iraq’, Ethics & International Affairs 19/2: 31-54 (2005).
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5
Tim Dunne, ‘R2P, Libya, and the Myth of Regime Change’, Lowy Interpreter, 5 September 2012. http://www.lowyinterpreter.org, accessed 23 March 2013.
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7
Alex Bellamy, ‘The Responsibility to Protect and the Problem of Regime Change’, e-International Relations, 27 September 2011.
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11
Steven Freeland, ‘A Prosecution Too Far? Reflections on the Accountability of Heads of State Under International Criminal Law’, Victoria University of Wellington Law Review, 41: 179-204 (2010), p. 198.
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15
S/RES/1674, 28 April 2006.
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20
Ruti Teitel, Humanity’s Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), pp. 3-6, 10.
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21
See The White House, National Security Strategy of the United States of America (Washington, D.C.: The White House, 2002).
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22
See Gareth Evans, The Responsibility to Protect: Ending Mass Atrocity Crimes for Once and For All (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2008), pp. 69-71; Ramesh Thakur, The United Nations, Peace and Security: From Collective Security to the Responsibility to Protect (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), p. 262; Ken Roth, ‘The war in Iraq was not a humanitarian intervention’, Human Rights Watch World Report 2004: Human Rights and Armed Conflict (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2004). See also Mahmood Mamdani, Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Politics, and the War on Terror (New York: Pantheon, 2009). Mamdani actively conflates humanitarian intervention and the ‘War on Terror’ in the context of the response to Darfur.
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24
Daniel Byman, ‘Regime Change in the Middle East: Problems and Prospects’, Political Science Quarterly 127/1: 25-46 (2012), pp. 26-27.
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27
Mary Kaldor, response to Downes, ‘Regime Change’, Boston Review, Sept/Oct: 17-22 (2011), p. 27.
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28
Anne Orford, Reading Humanitarian Intervention: Human Rights and the Use of Force in International Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 102-110.
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38
A/RES/60/1, p. 30.
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47
Belinda Cooper, ‘The Limits of International Justice’, World Policy Journal, Fall: 91-101 (2009), p. 91. Although there are other international tribunals, like the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia that have also enjoyed such a contemporary mandate.
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48
Broomhall, International Justice & the International Criminal Court, pp. 138-9.
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49
See Robert Cryer, ‘Prosecuting the Leaders: Promises, Politics and Practicalities’, Göttingen Journal of International Law, 1: 45-75 (2009), p. 54.
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50
Ibid., p. 48-50.
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51
Cryer, ‘Prosecuting the Leaders’, pp. 54, 76; Freeland, ‘A Prosecution Too Far?’, p. 202.
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54
See W. Michael Reisman, ‘Why Regime Change is (Almost Always) a Bad Idea’, The American Journal of International Law, 98: 515-525 (2004), p. 517.
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56
Cryer, ‘Prosecuting the Leaders’, p. 71; Nouwen and Werner, ‘Doing Justice to the Political’, p. 942.
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57
International Criminal Court, Understanding the International Criminal Court (The Hague: The International Criminal Court, 2011), p. 16.
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64
Ainley, ‘The International Criminal Court on Trial’, pp. 325-6.
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66
S/RES/1970 (2011), 26 February 2011.
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67
Resolution 1973 (2011), below, is similar in this regard.
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68
S/RES/1973 (2011), 17 March 2011.
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70
Joseph Lieberman and John McCain, ‘In Libya, Regime Change Should be the Goal’, Wall Street Journal, 1 April 2011; P. Wintour and E. MacAskill, ‘Gaddafi May Become Target of Airstrikes, Liam Fox Admits’, Guardian, 20 March 2011.
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71
Ramesh Thakur, “UN Breathes Life into ‘Responsibility to Protect’”, Toronto Star, 21 March 2011.
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72
Gareth Evans, ‘UN Targets Libya with Pinpoint Accuracy’, The Age, 24 March 2011.
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78
See Richard Norton-Taylor, “Libya Campaign ‘Has Made UN Missions to Protect Civilians Less Likely’”, Guardian, 19 March 2012.
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79
S/PRST/2011/16, 3 August 2011.
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80
S/2011/612, 4 October 2011.
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81
See S/PV.6627, 4 October 2011.
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82
S/2012/77, 4 February 2012.
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87
See S/PV.6711, 4 February 2012.
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88
See United Nations, ‘UN Wants Syria Referred to International Criminal Court’, United Nations Radio, 28 February 2012, http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/2012/02/human-rights-council-hears-of-worsening-situation-in-syria/, accessed 15 May 2012; Amnesty International, Stop the Bloodshed: Repression in Syria (USA: Amnesty International, undated), p. 3; Human Rights Watch, ‘Syria: Extrajudicial Executions’, 9 April 2012, http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/04/09/syria-extrajudicial-executions, accessed 15 May 2012; David Scheffer, ‘Here’s How to Refer Syrian Leaders to the International Criminal Court’, IJCentral, 7 March 2012, http://ijcentral.org/news/heres_how_to_refer_syrian_leaders_to_the_international_criminal_court/, accessed 14 May 2012, respectively.
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91
See Nouwen and Werner, ‘Doing Justice to the Political’, p. 956.
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95
See G.J. Knoops, ‘Prosecuting the Gaddafis: Swift or Political Justice?’, Amsterdam Law Forum, 4/1: 78-92 (2012), p. 83.
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96
Marlise Simons, ‘International Criminal Court Issues Warrant for Sudan President’, The New York Times, 4 March 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/world/africa/04iht-04court-sudan.20587098.html, accessed 27 June 2011.
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97
The Telegraph, ‘David Cameron: ‘Syria Needs Transition at the Top to Avoid Civil War’, The Telegraph, 12 April 2012, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9200460/David-Cameron-Syria-needs-transition-at-the-top-to-avoid-civil-war.html, accessed 14 May 2012.
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98
Al Jazeera, ‘US and UN Demand End to Syria Violence’, Al Jazeera, 13 March 2012, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/03/2012312165735839.html, accessed 14 May 2012.
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100
The Economist, ‘A Warrant for Bashir: Can Sudan’s Serving Head of State really be brought to justice for his alleged crimes in Darfur’, Economist, 5 March 2009, http://www.economist.com/node/13235033, accessed 24 June 2011; see also de Waal and Stanton, ‘Should President Omar al Bashir of Sudan Be Charged and Arrested by the International Criminal Court’, pp. 331-2.
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101
Reisman, ‘Why Regime Change is (Almost Always) a Bad Idea’, pp. 516-7.
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102
See Ainley, ‘The International Criminal Court on Trial’, p. 311, in relation to the ICC.
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103
Ruti Teitel, ‘Humanity’s Law: Rule of Law for the New Global Politics’, Cornell International Law Journal 35: 355-387 (2002), pp. 374, 387.
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106
Anne Orford, ‘What Kind of Law is This?’, London Review of Books Blog, 29 March 2011, http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2011/03/29/anne-orford/what-kind-of-law-is-this/, accessed 2 December 2012.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
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From Sudan to Syria: Locating ‘Regime Change’ in R2P and the ICC*
In: Global Responsibility to ProtectSearch for other papers by Nesam McMillan in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by David Mickler in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Recently, R2P and the ICC have been mobilised in different forms to respond to state-directed mass atrocities in Sudan, Libya and Syria. Notably, this has generated debate over the capacity and legitimacy of using R2P and the ICC to facilitate ‘regime change’ in those cases and beyond. This article critically examines where regime change, as an aim and outcome, sits within R2P and ICC doctrine and practice. We demonstrate the ambiguous position of regime change in R2P and ICC doctrine, where it is not explicitly endorsed as an objective but actions that may lead to it are permitted. In practice, R2P and the ICC have been used to starkly different ends in the three cases. Such ambiguity—about what regime change is, and about how far international intervention can legitimately go—and inconsistency in application, can undermine global support for R2P and the ICC as tools for preventing and responding to atrocities.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1089 | 116 | 20 |
| Full Text Views | 495 | 11 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 583 | 28 | 3 |
