About R2P

There is growing acceptance that the international community not only should but must act when the state itself is either incapable of protecting, or itself inflicting harm on, its populations. At the 2005 World Summit, governments accepted a new international norm, the Responsibility to Protect, which seeks to hold all states accountable to populations at risk of being attacked, forcibly displaced, or killed.

The Responsibility to Protect - known as R2P - refers to the obligation of states toward their populations and toward all populations at risk of genocide and other large-scale atrocities. This new international norm stipulates that:

* The primary responsibility to protect populations from mass atrocities lies with the state itself.

* When a state proves either unable or unwilling to protect peoples, that responsibility shifts to the international community.

* This obligation must be exercised preventively; states can not delay action until mass crimes have already occurred.

* The tools of action include diplomatic, legal, and other peaceful measures; coercive measures such as sanctions; and, as a last resort, military force.

These principles originated in a 2001 report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty and were endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly in the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document paragraphs 138 and 139.

The UN Secretary General released a report in January 2009 Implementing the Responsibility to Protect. In a July 2009 General Assembly Debate, UN Member States overwhelmingly reaffirmed the 2005 Commitment and passed a consensus resolution taking note of the Secretary-General's report. Read more about the historic debate here.





PHOTO: On September 13th and 14th, 2005, the largest gathering of world leaders took place as the UN General Assembly convened for the World Summit. Of the summit's main achievements was the adoption of paragraphs 138 and 139 enshrining the Responsibility to Protect. (UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras)

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LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Report of the Secretary General: Early warning, assessment and the responsibility to protect . A/64/864, 14 July 2010

GCR2P Joint-Report on Sudan Referendum Calls for Urgent International Action, Renewing the Pledge: Reengaging the Guarantors to the Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

Open Letter to the Organization for the Security and Cooperation of Europe on the Situation in Kyrgyzstan, 30 June 2010

Open Letter to the United Nations Security Council on the situation in Kyrgyzstan, 24 June 2010


R2P IN THE NEWS
James Traub, It's Not Too Late to Save Kyrgyzstan, James Traub, Foreign Policy, 23 June 2010

Ken Frazer, UN must intervene in Kyrgyzstan bloodshed, Brisbane Times, 21 June 2010

Responsibility to Protect: a Natural Humanitarian Impulse, The Island, Online (Sri Lanka), 26 April 2010

"Remembering the Unforgettable", Inter Press Service New Agency, 8 April 2010

MORE R2P IN THE NEWS >>