As I write, British military forces are engaged – with partners from many other countries – in enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973 over Libya.
No country takes military action lightly. It is always a last resort. But as I wrote in La Razon on 22 March, the United Kingdom believes that the action to protect Libyan civilians from its own brutal leaders is necessary, legal and right. As the Arab League made clear, and UN Resolution 1973 set out, the international community could not stand by while Colonel Qadhafi’s forces continued to attack a civilian population for whom he had expressed “no mercy”.
Bolivia, while expressing doubts about the military action, played its part in the UN by joining other countries in voting for the suspension of Libya from the UN Human Rights Council and from the deliberations of the UN General Assembly. While the international community acts to uphold a UN mandate, Colonel Qadhafi continues to do the opposite.
This is not about oil. It is not an attempt to impose rule from the outside. It is about upholding the responsibility of the international community to prevent civilians being murdered by its own government. We have not always acted so in the past. That was an error. It is right that we are doing so now.