New arrivals in a camp for displaced people in the market town of Masisi, North Kivu, last December. Having offered a semblance of refuge from the fighting and lawlessness surrounding it, Masisi was emptied by fighting in September 2008. (Photo by Fred.)
The last time eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had this much media attention, [...]
This blog recently referred readers to a speech by Gareth Evans on R2P, calling it ‘probably best available detailed introduction to the concept, including its origins, significance and current challenges’. Now Gareth’s book on The Responsibility to Protect is about to be launched, with events in New York (today), London (22 September), Brussels (7 October) [...]
Three years after saying “We accept that responsibility”, the United Nations General Assembly will soon debate how to put ‘the Responsibility to Protect‘ into practice. How do we know this? Because UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon plans to present to the General Assembly some proposals on the subject by the end of 2008.
Forget about UN procedures, complicated politics and differing [...]
Three years ago, at the 2005 World Summit, 150 world leaders resolved “to create a more peaceful, prosperous and democratic world and to undertake concrete measures… to provide multilateral solutions to problems in the four following areas: development, peace and collective security, human rights and the rule of law, and strengthening of the United Nations.”
Under [...]
“For those of us who believe that, whatever the compelling attractions of traditional sovereignty, we cannot simply turn a blind eye to mass atrocity crimes, and that the 2005 cannot be the high water mark from which the tides now recede, there is still a big job ahead. The immediate objective must be to get [...]
Kenya’s National Commission on Human Rights has released its report into January’s post-election violence. Entitled On the Brink of the Precipice, the report (promised to appear on the KNCHR website shortly) concludes that some of the violence was premeditated, financed by local politicians and business people, and included crimes against humanity. Naming planners and perpetrators, and making recommendations on changing [...]
A sincere commitment goes a long way to reinforcing a sense of responsibility and increasing the likelihood of taking subsequent action. (Psychologists suggest that this is essentially because we prefer to be consistent, thus avoiding a sense of ‘cognitive dissonance’.)
Individual responsibility is highly relevant to the lofty goal of genocide prevention, because we need to reach a [...]
As the International Criminal Court reviews its Chief Prosecutor’s request for an arrest warrant against Sudanese President al-Bashir, another genocide suspect was finally arrested this week - in Serbia.
Radovan Karadžic - a former poet, psychiatrist, politician, ally of Slobodan Miloševic and (from December 1992) Supreme Commander of the Serbian armed forces - is charged with [...]
Yuri Fedotov, who is the Russian Federation’s Ambassador to the UK, has written to The Guardian to defend his country’s decision to veto Security Council sanctions on Zimbabwean officials responsible for political violence since the elections. In aside, he writes:
“There is an important technical point at stake. UN security council resolutions exist as a mechanism to address [...]
In a speech earlier this week, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon declared his “deep and enduring” personal commitment to the Responsibility to Protect. Appealing for a common understanding of what R2P is and is not, he said “it is not a new code for humanitarian intervention. Rather, it is built on a more positive and affirmative [...]