The United Nations and the Responsibility to Rebuild

2021 ◽  
pp. 274-287
Author(s):  
Alex J. Bellamy
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Vulnerable Populations ◽  
Central African Republic ◽  
Practical Work ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Relationship

Peacebuilding and statebuilding were integral parts of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) when the principle was first articulated in 2001. But since 2005 they have developed quite separately, creating a gap between the theories and practices of protection and peacebuilding. The effects of this gap are not just theoretical but practical too. The UN’s failure to properly follow through with rebuilding support in Libya contributed to that country’s descent into chaos and civil war, especially after 2013. Likewise a failure to incorporate atrocity-prevention concerns into ongoing peacebuilding efforts in places like Sri Lanka and the Central African Republic meant that the UN’s field presences did not do all they could to prevent atrocities or protect vulnerable populations. This chapter examines the relationship between peacebuilding and R2P in the UN context. It shows how the two were conceived as being mutually supporting activities but were separated during the UN’s wider deliberations on reform. It describes the effects of this gap between peacebuilding and protection before arguing that the two agendas are closely aligned and should be integrated. And it points to practical work to ensure that atrocity prevention is mainstreamed into peacebuilding efforts, and vice versa.

The Tamil Issue in India–Sri Lanka Relationships: Priorities and Interests

2022 ◽  
pp. 097492842110681
Author(s):  
Amit Ranjan ◽  
Diotima Chattoraj
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Human Rights Council ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Ethnic War

More than 25 years of ethnic war in Sri Lanka ended in 2009. Expressing ‘serious concerns’ on human rights situation in post-civil war Sri Lanka, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has adopted critical resolutions. The eighth such resolution was adopted in March 2021. India abstained for the second time from voting on a resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC since 2014. In 2012 and 2013, India voted in favour of resolutions that have been critical of Sri Lanka. This article, examines shift in India’s approach towards the Tamil issue in Sri Lanka.

Sovereignty as Normative Decoy in the R2P Challenge to the Charter of the United Nations

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shirley V. Scott ◽  
Roberta C. Andrade
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Real World ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
Cognitive Structures ◽  
Potential Victim ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
Normative Development ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The Responsibility to Protect (R2P), touted in 2009 as ‘the most dramatic normative development of our time’, is highly contentious, having generated a scholarly literature far greater than its real-world impact would seem to warrant. This may well be because of its potential to challenge and displace core existing norms, the most widely cited of which is sovereignty. This paper draws on the theory of Cognitive Structures of Cooperation (csc Theory) to identify the relationship of R2P to existing normative structures, including the Charter of the United Nations, with a view to assessing the depth of the challenge posed and the potential consequences if the emergent norm were to be fully embraced. The analysis concludes that, rather than representing the object and potential victim of the R2P assault, sovereignty is better understood as having represented a decoy in this process of normative contestation.

Negotiating the Responsibility to Protect in the un System: The Roles of Formal and Informal Groups

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 197-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex J. Bellamy
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
The North ◽  
African Group ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Political Groups ◽  
Informal Groups

This article examines the role that groups played in the rise of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) within the United Nations (un) system. It focuses in particular on the role of informal groups of states in advancing a consensus on R2P, contrasting their role with that of formal regional and political groups, which — with the exception of the African Group — played a more marginal role. R2P has given rise to a multiplicity of informal groups of states. These informal groups operate alongside the formal regional and political groups and, with one or two exceptions, have tended to be significantly more influential, the main reason being the principle’s genesis. Arising out of fractious debates in the late 1990s about intervention and the relationship between sovereignty and fundamental human rights, R2P was from the outset a conscious attempt to bridge political divides between states in the un — especially the ‘North–South’ theatre.

scholarly journals IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT IN THE SETTLEMENT OF HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC BY THE UNITED NATIONS

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Parulian Yusuf S.
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Central African Republic ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
United Nations Security Council ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Humanitarian Crisis ◽  
Muslim Minority ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Governance Arrangements

State’s sovereignty enables the execution of governance arrangements and state’s (primary) obligation to protect citizens from the threats of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression. Moreover, sovereignty is considered as a state-owned right to reject forms of interventions. The opposition that arises between sovereignty and the protection of humanity encourages the birth of Responsibility to Protect. The humanitarian crisis occurred in the Central African Republic when the Central African Republic government was unable to stop the insurgency arising in its territory. Seleka and Anti-Balaka rebels were involved in the civil war in the Central African Republic. Seleka rebels attacked a predominantly Christian and Anti-Balaka population attacking a Muslim minority. This is of concern to the international community and encourages the United Nations Security Council to take action to resolve the humanitarian crisis in the Central African Republic under Responsibility to Protect.

The UN Secretary-General and the Security Council

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
United Nations Security Council ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Organizational Relationships ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
International Mediation ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Relationship

The United Nations Secretary-General and the United Nations Security Council spend significant amounts of time on their relationship with each other. They rely on each other for such important activities as peacekeeping, international mediation, and the formulation and application of normative standards in defense of international peace and security—in other words, the executive aspects of the UN’s work. The edited book The UN Secretary-General and the Security Council: A Dynamic Relationship aims to fill an important lacuna in the scholarship on the UN system. Although there exists an impressive body of literature on the development and significance of the Secretariat and the Security Council as separate organs, an important gap remains in our understanding of the interactions between them. Bringing together some of the most prominent authorities on the subject, this volume is the first book-length treatment of this topic. It studies the UN from an innovative angle, creating new insights on the (autonomous) policy-making of international organizations and adding to our understanding of the dynamics of intra-organizational relationships. Within the book, the contributors examine how each Secretary-General interacted with the Security Council, touching upon such issues as the role of personality, the formal and informal infrastructure of the relationship, the selection and appointment processes, as well as the Secretary-General’s threefold role as a crisis manager, administrative manager, and manager of ideas.

The Puzzle and the Project

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura J. Shepherd
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Central African Republic ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Guinea Bissau ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Gender And Space

This chapter outlines the motivation for undertaking the research presented here, and offers an account of the contexts for the peacebuilding-related activities in which the United Nations is involved: Burundi; Central African Republic; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Liberia; and Sierra Leone. The research design is explained, with an overview provided of both the theoretical framework supporting the research and the methodological approach taken. The methodology is a form of discourse analysis engaging both documentary and transcribed interview texts, and this chapter explains how the author uses the concepts of gender and space to structure the analysis in the rest of the book. The chapter also presents an analysis of the literature on peacebuilding to which the author seeks to make a contribution with this research.

The Competing Mediations in the Post-Qaddafi Libyan Political Crisis

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Kasaija Phillip Apuuli
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Al Qaeda ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
African Union ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Mediation Processes ◽  
The Revolution

Abstract Since the end of the revolution that toppled the rule of Muammar Qaddafi in October 2011, Libya has never known peace. The country descended into civil war with different factions contending for control. In this milieu, the United Nations attempted to mediate an end to the crisis but its efforts have failed to gain traction partly as a result of other mediation initiatives undertaken by several European actors. Sub-regional and continental organizations, including the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) and the African Union (AU) respectively, that should have taken the lead in the mediation have been absent. Meanwhile, continued fighting has hampered a mediated settlement, and terrorist groups such as the Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda have taken advantage of the situation to establish a presence in the country. In the end, rather than ending the crisis, Libya has provided the ground for competing mediation processes which have prolonged the crisis.

Visual Portraits of Za‘atari Syrian Refugee Camp

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-252
Author(s):  
Thomas B. Stevenson
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Refugee Camp ◽  
News Reports ◽  
Syrian Refugee ◽  
Syrian Civil War ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Host Government

The Syrian Civil War, now in its sixth year, has displaced an estimated 11 million people (with numbers constantly escalating), nearly half the country's population. Of these, the United Nations estimates 4.8 million Syrians have fled their homeland. News reports have tended to focus on the struggles of those crossing the Mediterranean and seeking asylum in Europe, but most refugees have sought safety in the neighboring countries of Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan, where they have dispersed and “settled” in towns and cities. A comparative few have settled in host government and/or UNHCR sponsored camps. Jordan's Za‘atari Camp, just seven miles from the border, is the largest Syrian refugee camp. Its population peaked at more than 120,000 residents and currently has between 75,000 – 80,000 residents most of whom are from the Dara'a area. The camp is numerically equivalent to Jordan's fourth largest city.

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