Responsibility to Protect Doctrine: a Comparative Study of the Approaches Taken by P5 to Crises in Lybia and Syria

The present century due to new concerns and challenges regarding international human crises and increase in world expectations to adequately, timely and purposeful respond to them, witnesses more signifiant developments compared to the past century. The instrumental use of the concept of human rights to intervene in the internal affarirs of other countries by great powers to ensure their own objectives and national intersts and also deep and serious differences regarding the manner, time and legitimacy of military intervention by the international community have made humanitarian intervention a controvrsial solution for human crises. In this regard, the ratification of responsibility to protect doctrine at the UN 2005 World Summit and its recognition as an accepted international norm, suggests an important step taken by the international community for adopting an approach to solve international human crises. Although the practical test of this doctrine in Lybian crisis and efforts made for applying this model to Syria provoked once again harsh criticisms against great powers, particulary the permanent members of the Security Council, this article while taking a look at responsibility to protect doctrine, tries to conduct a comparative study of approaches taken by P5 to crises in Lybia and Syria.