All Necessary Measures? The United Nations and International Intervention in Libya: Caabu Online Book Launch with Ian Martin

5 May 2022 14:00 - 15:00

Caabu invites you to an online book launch on Libya with former UN special representative of the UN Secretary General in Libya, Ian Martin.

Ian will be discussing his book, All Necessary Measures?: The United Nations and International Intervention in Libya on Thursday 5 May at 2pm (BST UK time). This book launch will be chaired by Nicolas Pelham, The Economist's Middle East Correspondent.

Register for this online briefing here.

Ian Martin will discuss his book about the decision of the UN Security Council to authorise military intervention in Libya and its implementation, as well as his time as special representative of the secretary-general on the ground, establishing the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) for its first year of operations. It was a remarkable challenge and he will share his reflections on this period looking at the international role in Libya which was so crucial.

All Necessary Measures?: The United Nations and International Intervention in Libya, published by Hurst Publishers, can be purchased here. All titles we've hosted online book launches for can be found and purchased here. Books by Caabu speakers can be purchased here through Caabu's affiliate page on Bookshop.org. Caabu receives 10% of any purchase made as does an independent book shop.

Exclusive offer for Caabu members who can obtain a discount code of 25% when buying the book via Hurst publishers (available to pre-order now). Please email Joseph Willits [email protected] for the code. Of course non-members can join and then receive the code! Join Caabu as a member here.

When: Thursday 5 May 2022, 14:00 (BST, UK time).

Where: Online. Sign up for the discussion here.

Chair: Nicolas Pelham, The Economist's Middle East Correspondent

The event will also be live-streamed on Caabu's Youtube channel which you can also subscribe to. Previous Caabu briefings and discussions can also be watched here and a recording of this event will be posted here afterwards also. Previous Caabu briefings can be watched in this playlist here. Previous Caabu briefings on Libya can we watched here.

Caabu has created an affiliate page on Bookshop. This means, that with any purchase through this site, 10% of the sale price will be sent to us and another 10% will go to support local bookshops. We think this is a great way to support Caabu's work and independent bookshops across the country. More details about it can be found here.

  • All Necessary Measures?: The United Nations and International Intervention in Libya, can be purchased here and is listed in the online events section of our Bookshop page, where you can find titles from previous speakers at Caabu's online briefings.
  • Buy other books from previous online Caabu briefings here and from physical events we've hosted here.

Titles written by Caabu board members and patrons can be found here, as can others written by those who have spoken at Caabu events here. We hope you enjoy reading any of these titles, and supporting Caabu in the process.

You can sign up for the discussion here using your email address. Please note that sign up is a two part process. Once you have signed up with your email address, this will then be approved, and details will then be emailed to you ahead of the event. Please do check your inbox (including Junk and Clutter folders) for this email with the link to join the event on the day. 

Please register below AHEAD of time to join this online briefing. This makes it much more helpful to us: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUpceyuqz8iH9MywajQiZlhPyaoHfsekCuZ

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You can watch previous online Caabu briefings on our Youtube channel which you can also subscribe to. 

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PLEASE DONATE TO SUPPORT CAABU'S VITAL WORK: We would be also be very grateful for any donations to help us in our work right now and keep our programme including the webinars going forward. Donate here. Become a member for £50 a year here.

Ian Martin Hurst Libya Caabu

About the book:

The international intervention after the 2011 Libyan uprising against Muammar Gaddafi was initially considered a remarkable success: the UN Security Council’s first application of the ‘responsibility to protect’ doctrine; an impending civilian massacre prevented; and an opportunity for democratic forces to lead Libya out of a forty-year dictatorship. But such optimism was soon dashed.

Successive governments failed to establish authority over the ever-proliferating armed groups; divisions among regions and cities, Islamists and others, split the country into rival administrations and exploded into civil war; external intervention escalated. Ian Martin gives his first-hand view of the questions raised by the international engagement. Was it a justified response to the threat against civilians? What brought about the Security Council resolutions, including authorising military action? How did NATO act upon that authorisation? What role did Special Forces operations play in the rebels’ victory? Was a peaceful political settlement ever possible? What post-conflict planning was undertaken, and should or could there have been a major peacekeeping or stabilisation mission during the transition? Was the first election held too soon?

As Western interventions are reassessed and Libya continues to struggle for stability, this is a unique account of a critical period, by a senior international official who was close to the events.

You can purchase All Necessary Measures?: The United Nations and International Intervention in Libya, here.

About the speaker:

Ian Martin has headed United Nations field missions in several countries, including as Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) 2011-12; Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Nepal 2005-09; and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the East Timor Popular Consultation 1999. He served as a member of the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations appointed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, which reported in June 2015. His other senior UN appointments include Head of the Headquarters Board of Inquiry into certain incidents in the Gaza Strip; Special Envoy for Timor-Leste; Representative in Nepal of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea; Chief of the UN Human Rights Field Operation in Rwanda; and Director for Human Rights of the UN/Organization of American States International Civilian Mission in Haiti. He also served in the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina as Deputy High Representative for Human Rights. He was Secretary General of Amnesty International (1986-92), Vice President of the International Center for Transitional Justice (2002-05), and Executive Director of Security Council Report (2015-18). His writings include Self-Determination in East Timor: the United Nations, the Ballot, and International Intervention and All Necessary Measures? The United Nations and International Intervention in Libya.

About the chair:

Nicolas Pelham is The Economist’s Middle East correspondent. Previous postings include Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus, Jerusalem and Rabat. He received the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Journalism for reporting on Saudi Arabia. He is a contributor to New York Review of Books and the author of A New Muslim Order, A History of the Middle East (with the late Peter Mansfield) and Holy Lands. He has consulted for the United Nations on Gaza and is a former senior Middle East analyst for International Crisis Group.

Caabu is a not-for-profit cross-party organisation whose mission is to work for a British Middle East policy that promotes conflict resolution, human rights and civil society in the Arab world through informed debate and mutual understanding. Caabu is one of the most active NGOs working on the Middle East in British parliament since its establishment in 1967. From then on Caabu has assumed an active advocacy, educational and media role.

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