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 [...]
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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 [...]
In the New York Times Magazine, David Rieff examines the gap between principle and practice when it comes to humanitarian intervention, and asks a profound question:
“Are we talking about people in desperate need of aid or are we talking about ourselves when we debate such matters?“
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Ramesh Thakur - one of the original R2P commissioners, is critical of suggestions to apply R2P to natural disasters.
He admits that the original report identified ‘overwhelming natural or environmental catastrophes, where the state concerned is either unwilling or unable to cope, and significant loss of life is occurring or threatened‘ as among the conscience-shocking situations [...]
He’s nothing if not consistent. Alex De Waal continues to equate R2P with armed intervention, which he says would be counterproductive in Darfur.
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From Security Council Report:
Following the cyclone that hit Myanmar on 2 May and Myanmar’s resistance to receiving the kind of international disaster assistance which has now become standard in response to devastating natural disasters, France brought the issue to the Council, invoking the concept of “responsibility to protect†as the basis for Council action. 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 [...]