R2P

Celebrating the Ten Year Anniversary of the Responsibility to Protect: Battling WWII Global Displacement Rates with an Emphasis on Implementation

By Heather Cohen

Tomorrow marks the celebration of the ten year anniversary of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). At the United Nations, the President of the General Assembly (PGA) will lead a thematic panel discussion from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. EST in the Trusteeship Council Chamber. For those of you who will not be in New York, you can tune into the live webcast here.

By |February 25th, 2016|Blog|
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The Responsibility to Protect Turns 10

By Logan St. John-Smith

This year is the tenth anniversary of the 2005 World Summit, which brought together more than 170 Heads of State and Government at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York.

One of the most important developments to come out of that historic meeting is encapsulated in paragraphs 138-140 of the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document, where the UN General Assembly endorsed what is known as the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), and made a commitment to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.  Should national authorities fail in their duties to protect their citizens, and peaceful means of achieving this goal be inadequate, collective military action may be authorized through Chapter VII of the UN Charter and the Security Council.

The Responsibility to Protect doctrine was first articulated in the Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty in December 2001 as the result of an initiative sponsored by the Government of Canada. To its supporters, R2P represents a significant normative development and a foundational step for greater protection for human rights globally. To its detractors, R2P represents a violation of the principles of state sovereignty and a license for war.

For both sides of this debate, the 2011 NATO-led intervention in Libya that ousted Muammar Gaddafi is a watershed moment. UN Security Council Resolution 1973 authorized member states to take all necessary measures to protect civilians under threat of attack in Libya, leading to an eight month bombing campaign that culminated in the death of the Libyan leader. This explicit invocation of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine in justifying military action is viewed today both as the vindication of the principles endorsed at the 2005 World Summit, and as the proof of its potential for abuse.

The Secretary General’s Sixth Report on the Responsibility to protect was released in August 2014. Produced annually since 2009, these reports are part of an informal dialogue at the UN General Assembly regarding the further implementation and entrenchment of the Responsibility to Protect. Noting that the doctrine is being tested by the unfolding crises in Syria and elsewhere, the Secretary General this year called on member states to use the 10th anniversary of the 2005 World Summit to craft an ambitious vision for the future of the Responsibility to Protect.

 

By |May 4th, 2015|Blog|
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Remembering the Rwandan Genocide

By Jessica Thrower

This month we commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide – an appalling atrocity where an estimated 800,000 to 1 million Rwandans were murdered in a three-month period that began April 7th, 1994. What are some of these lessons learned from the Rwandan genocide?

  1. It starts with words

One of the first lessons learned from the Rwandan genocide is that these events occurred as a result of state-sanctioned incitement to hate. The media conducted an orchestrated dehumanization and demonization of the minority Tutsi population, calling the Tutsis “cockroaches”. A private radio station, Radio-Television Libre des Mille Collines, later helped conduct the genocidal onslaught by giving specific orders on how to carry out killings, including identifying individuals to be attacked and where specifically they could be found.

Although Rwandans and international observers deplored the media campaign conducted against the Tutsis early on, no one intervened to stop the calls of hatred or the promotion of violence. In an attempt to prevent genocides before they happen, the international community must ensure that they are prosecuting individuals that are trying to incite genocide (as it is a crime under the Genocide Convention) and work to jam airwaves to prevent organized killing campaigns.

  1. Violence used against vulnerable populations

The second lesson learned is the consistent use of violence targeted at vulnerable populations. During mass atrocities, women, children, and refugees are often the first victims of oppression and brutality. The evidence presented at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda showed that sexual violence and rape are regularly used as a weapon of war and a means to ensure the continued degradation, humiliation, and torture of the population.

  1. Danger of indifference and consequences of inaction

The third lesson learned is the danger of indifference and the consequences of inaction. The Rwandan genocide not only occurred because of state-sanctioned violence, but also because of international idleness regarding the establishment of an arms embargo, the stopping of aid, and use of military intervention.

In the Rwandan genocide, soldiers, the national police, and militia used small arms, grenades, and mortars. They attacked churches, schools, hospitals, and other regular gathering points for Tutsis, killing thousands of individuals. After this first wave of assaults, the survivors were then further terrorized by a second wave of attacks from civilians that wielded machetes or homemade weapons. Although the UN Security Council eventually established an arms embargo against the country, this occurred too late to prevent further genocide. Had the UN Security council imposed an embargo earlier, it would have led to fewer arms being available in the country, making attacks less effective.
In addition to establishing an arms embargo, international actors should have sent a clear condemnation of genocidal government and that they would stop aid if further violence occurred. The Rwandan regime was heavily dependent on aid and the government could not operate for long without it. If the international community announced that direct foreign assistance would be denied, it would have further called into question the legitimacy of the government and its long-term viability. This might have made it harder for the génocidaires to persuade Hutu elite and Rwandans to go along with their plans and follow their directives.

In some cases, the international community must also be willing to use force to end the killing. At the beginning of the crisis, the UN peacekeepers did not have the mandate or the personnel required for effective action. If the mandate had been broadened to allow for offensive action and had the peacekeepers received support from international troops, such as the French, Belgian, and Italian troops that were sent to evacuate their citizens, the combined forces could have saved the lives of many people and limited the number of civilians killed.

Critical reflection

In remembering the Rwandan Genocide, the international community must recommit to preventing and protecting human rights and the victims of mass atrocities. Although some of the results since Rwanda have been encouraging, such as the eventual NATO intervention in the Balkans, British troops in Sierra Leone, UN peacekeeping and French-led European troops in the Congo, the international community must continue to learn and become more effective in responding to violence. The international community must show that the pleas and concerns coming from Syria and most recently the Central African Republic are not falling on deaf ears.

By |April 26th, 2015|Blog|
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