Implementing r2p: Towards a Regional Solution?

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 459-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bolarinwa Adediran
Keyword(s):  
Security Council ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Regional Institutions ◽  
International Action ◽  
Mass Atrocity ◽  
Regional Organisations ◽  
Atrocity Crimes ◽  
Syrian Conflict

Since the adoption of the principles of the Responsibility to Protect (r2p) in 2005, proponents and critics alike have accepted that it has not brought about a consistent and effective response to mass atrocity crimes. The incapacity that the Security Council exhibits in addressing the Syrian conflict provides a compelling justification for the need to examine alternative mechanisms through which the principles of the doctrine can be implemented. This paper argues that regional organisations should be considered legitimate authorising mechanisms in place of the Security Council in implementing r2p. The use of regional institutions as authorising mechanisms has not been properly considered or rigorously defended. In the paper, I make a case for regional organisations in authorising international action during mass atrocity situations by first establishing the legitimacy of regional organisations to act in response to local disputes. I propose and defend four arguments that provide justification and establish the utility of regional arrangements as alternative authorising mechanisms. I also examine and respond to three key objections that can be made against regional organisations. Finally, I outline a set of criteria that should determine which regional organisations are considered legitimate actors during mass atrocity situations.

The Responsibility to Protect and Obama’s Red Line on Syria

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasmine Nahlawi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
Chemical Weapons ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
Chemical Attack ◽  
Mass Atrocity ◽  
Atrocity Crimes ◽  
Syrian Conflict ◽  
Red Line

The 21 August 2013 chemical attack on Ghouta led to the mobilisation of the international community after long international paralysis towards the ongoing conflict in Syria. It is unclear, however, why or under what legal basis states chose to react to Syria’s use of chemical weapons in exclusion to other mass atrocity crimes committed within the country. This article evaluates the legal underpinnings of President Obama’s ‘red line’ on the use of chemical weapons in Syria in the context of R2P. It notes that while all states condemned the Ghouta attack and called for accountability in this regard, only a minority of states shared the United States’ position that chemical weapons constituted a red line in their own right. Overall, it is maintained that the ‘red line’ phenomenon was case-specific to the Syrian conflict, reflecting geopolitical interests of world powers rather than signifying a new precedent for R2P’s application.

scholarly journals Exploring the Link between r2p and Refugee Protection: Arriving at Resettlement

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 366-394
Author(s):  
Chloë M. Gilgan
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Refugee Protection ◽  
Syrian Population ◽  
Mass Atrocity

This article addresses how resettlement can serve as a method for discharging the international community’s Responsibility to Protect (r2p) populations from mass atrocity, particularly in cases like Syria where the lack of consensus on the un Security Council has prevented an effective response in terms of diplomatic, humanitarian or military means for protecting the Syrian population from mass atrocities. The academic literature considers the link between r2p and refugee protection, but it is too focused on asylum, and it relies on normative arguments that fail to engage state interests. This article aims to explore the theoretical divide between r2p’s scholars, states, and civil society in terms of how each envisions the link between r2p and refugee protection. The article explores resettlement as a mechanism for rectifying these different interests in order to engage advocacy around r2p, thereby preserving its normative future and increasing protection of those fleeing mass atrocities.

scholarly journals Towards International Legitimization of the Responsibility to Protect’s Third Pillar

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 50
Author(s):  
Arsalan H. AlMizory
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
Sovereign State ◽  
New Era ◽  
The Past ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
Mass Atrocity ◽  
Atrocity Crimes

Over the past few years, the question whether international law permits the use of force not in response to existing violence but to avert and prevent mass atrocity crimes occurring within the boundaries of a sovereign State has taken on added significant in the aftermath of the humanitarian tragedies of the 1990s. Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is a complicated and emerging norm of international law, which represents the start of a new era for the United Nations (UN), seeks to provide a means for the Security Council to take enforcement measures under Chapter VII to prevent mass atrocity crimes. The research discusses that when the Security Council is deadlock and peaceful measures have been exhausted, it is important to have a legal basis of using limited armed force as a last resort in the name of humanitarian intervention, to avert overwhelmingly atrocity crimes that a government has shown it is unwilling or unable to prevent. The research analyzes the case of Syria as a case study, which demonstrates that the presence of certain conditions enables the UN Security Council to implement R2P norm to save civilian populations from mass human rights violations.

scholarly journals The Responsibility to Protect and the Great Powers: The Tensions of Dual Responsibility

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 398-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Morris
Keyword(s):  
Security Council ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
International Peace ◽  
Home State ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Mass Atrocity ◽  
Atrocity Crimes ◽  
State Rights ◽  
Special Responsibility

Since the un’s 2005 adoption of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) the five permanent members (P5) of the organisation’s Security Council have been burdened with a special dual responsibility, entailing a special responsibility to maintain international peace and security, and a special responsibility to assist those imperilled by the mass atrocity crimes of their home state. The tensions which can arise within this dual responsibility is a largely under-explored aspect of the R2P literature. But consideration of it helps explain why, despite differing views over how best to balance individual and state rights, at times accentuated by clashing interests, the P5 have nevertheless found common R2P ground, most particularly in their largely concerted opposition to the idea of a ‘responsibility not to veto’ R2P-related resolutions within the Council.

scholarly journals Responsible Veto Restraint: a Transitional Cosmopolitan Reform Measure for the Responsibility to Protect

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 385-414
Author(s):  
Richard Illingworth
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Code Of Conduct ◽  
United Nations Security Council ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
Veto Power ◽  
Reform Measure ◽  
Mass Atrocity ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Atrocity Crimes

Abstract This article examines reform to the ‘veto’ power held by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. The responsibility to react to mass atrocity crimes under the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) lies predominantly in the hands of the Security Council, meaning that R2P and the veto are inseparable. Veto use can obstruct the Council from meeting its R2P, reflected by the ongoing crisis in Syria, over which 16 Council draft resolutions have been vetoed to date. This article applies a transitional cosmopolitan framework to offer an informal ‘Responsible Veto Restraint’ (rvr) recommendation for veto reform. This measure provides a more effective and feasible avenue for veto reform than the recommendations of the Accountability, Coherency, and Transparency Group’s Code of Conduct and the France-Mexico Joint initiative for veto restraint. rvr can help promote R2P action through the Security Council, offering an avenue for progress towards addressing the problem of atrocity crimes.

Responsibility to Protect in International Criminal Law

Postgenocide ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 112-134
Author(s):  
Jobair Alam
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Mass Atrocity ◽  
Jus Cogens ◽  
Atrocity Crimes ◽  
Normative Foundations

This chapter considers the worst contemporary state-led prosecution of a minority group, which amounts to genocide, namely the Rohingya. It examines the atrocity crimes committed against them under international criminal law (ICL) and the application of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) thereupon. It suggests that such atrocities are constitutive of violations of jus cogens which warrants obligatio erga omnes. Accordingly, the perpetrators can be brought to justice under inter/national and universal jurisdictions, which, nonetheless, has not yet occurred. Given the failure of ICL mechanisms, the normative foundations of the R2P can provide valuable tools for intercepting mass atrocity crimes. The Rohingya—who face direct and structural violence at the hands of the Myanmar state—need protection from these crimes. The chapter explains how insular national politics can undo the gains made by the international community in upholding the distinctiveness of humanitarian claims through the application of the R2P.

“The Legitimacy to Legitimise”: The Security Council Action in Libya under Resolution 1973 (2011)

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 359-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constantine Antonopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Security Council ◽  
Humanitarian Intervention ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
International Peace ◽  
The Real ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Regional Organisations ◽  
Resolution 1973 ◽  
And Control

Abstract The power of the Security Council to adopt military measures for the maintenance of international peace and security has never been implemented as originally envisaged by the text of the UN Charter. The Council never acquired armed forces permanently at its disposal and under its command and control and it adopted the practice of authorisation of force leaving coalitions of willing States or regional organisations to implement it by conducting an operation under their command and resources with minimum control by the Council. The mandate of the operation in an enabling resolution is in principle a safeguard against abuse but its interpretation lies primarily (but not exclusively) with the participating States. The SC action in Libya intended to protect civilians (humanitarian intervention). Moreover, it revealed the real dimensions of humanitarian intervention and the vagaries of responsibility to protect: a suspension of the substance of Article 2(4).

The Maintenance of International Peace and Security through Prevention of Atrocity Crimes

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adama Dieng
Keyword(s):  
Security Council ◽  
World Summit ◽  
International Peace ◽  
Regional Institutions ◽  
The World ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Atrocity Crimes ◽  
Outcome Document ◽  
Proactive Role

This chapter focuses on the role and responsibility of the Security Council to maintain international peace and security through the prevention of atrocity crimes, as reflected in the World Summit Outcome Document. It is argued that, considering the near impossibility of seeking consensus by the veto-wielding members of the Council, in some cases that require its intervention, it is essential that regional institutions assume a greater role in preventing and protecting populations against atrocity crimes. This chapter argues for a renewed approach to international efforts to provide requisite support to these institutions to ensure that they assume a proactive role in protecting populations.

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