emergence of R2P however, as it was incorporated into the summit outcome document. Furthermore, its adoption was ratified by each UN member enforcing the concept of R2P as an ‘emerging norm’ within the global sphere not solely an empty political principle. The 2009 General Assembly debate surrounding a report written by UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon on its implementation globally has spread the culture of R2P further. Whilst within the debate, as Hehir argues, there was “little clarification of the criteria for intervention”, the fact that the report does not retract from any of the principles adopted in 2005, and outlined within the introduction, but constructively builds upon them, shows a level of global recognition for the importance of the R2P doctrine.(Hehir 2012, p54), (Badescu 2010, p8) It is clear, therefore, that R2P emerged from UN mistakes and frail international law surrounding humanitarian intervention, its subsequent conceptual development and its recognition by the international community has seen it evolve from an emerging political policy to a predominant international norm.

Having established both why and how R2P emerged to become an internationally accepted norm, the assessment of how it has affected African conflict over the 21st-century, merits analytical focus. It must be said that each of the case studies that will be discussed are dramatically different situations, this makes the application of Responsibility to Protect different in each case and thus the dimension and nature of how intervention is applied must be viewed through this perspective of situational difference.

Arguably the most prominent case in which Responsibility to Protect can be seen to have been enacted upon in the 21st-century is that of the 2011 Libyan civil conflict. Over the period February 2011-12, 21,490 Libyans were killed at a rate of 5.1 per 1000 people per year, a further 19,700 were injured and 435,000 were displaced. (Daw, Dau and El-Buzedi 2015, pp101-107) The extent to which this can be considered a mass atrocity can be measured by the UN’s response. This UN response came rapidly on the 26th of February 2011, just three days after the conflict began, as the UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1970. The resolution expressed a “grave concern for the situation in Libya,” at the “gross and systematic violation of human rights,” crucially it is also explicit in calling upon the Libyan authorities for their “responsibility to protect its population,” and the need to “respect the freedoms of peaceful assembly.” (UN, n.d) Resolution 1970 also imposed sanctions upon the Libyan state such as the freezing of economic resources on Libyan territory. This action was reinforced by the UN adoption of resolution 1973 on March 17th 2011, which “reiterated responsibility of the Libyan authorities to protect the Libyan population,” and that all armed parties within the conflict “take all feasible steps to protect civilians,” yet again reaffirming language of the Responsibility to Protect