The UN General Assembly is not an easy place to find consensus on anything, so it came as a welcome surprise to hear that its member states have agreed to work to further international understanding on effective collective action to prevent and (failing that) to halt mass atrocities. During the debate in July, numerous statements [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
A few weeks ago, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner (a lifelong advocate of ‘humanitarian intervention’) invoked R2P when the Government of Burma/Myanmar appeared to be obstructing relief efforts in the wake of Cyclone Nargis. However, when the French Ambassador to the UN requested a briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation, even this [...]
Ahuna Eziakonwa, UN OCHA, speaking at the seminar.
Through the African Union’s Constitutive Act of 2000, African leaders recognised the responsibility of the AU to intervene in the internal affairs of its member states to protect citizens during humanitarian crises. It is worth remembering that many prominent Africans have contributed to developing the responsibility to protect [...]
Wise sailors have always been more interested in reliable weather forecasts than reports of yesterday’s storm damage.
As it happens, history is not a bad guide to future possibilities, especially when you consider some of the alternatives. But news isn’t history (yet). We look back only because we have better information about the past than the [...]