Marjorie Cohn: Protecting the People of Libya and the Ivory Coast.

The United States, France and Britain had invaded Libya with cruise missiles, stealth bombers, fighter and attack jets. In addition, US President Barack Obama has been bombing Libya with Hellfire missiles from unmanned Predator drones. The UN Charter does NOT permit the use of military force for "humanitarian interventions". The military invasions of Libya and the Ivory Coast have been illegally "justified" by reference to the "Responsibility to Protect" doctrine. This unwarranted intrusion into the rights of Libya is NOT enshrined in an international treaty, nor has it ripened into a norm of customary international law. Paragraph 138 of that document says "each individual state has the responsibility to protect its populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. Paragraph 139 adds that the International Community, through the United Nations, also has the responsibility to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian, and other 'peaceful' means, in accordance with Chapters VI and VII of the Charter, to help protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. It looks as though the shyster lawyers in our Obama Administration turned the entire meaning of "protect" around!