This report responds to paragraphs 138 and 139 of the 2005 World Summit Outcome: operationalizing the responsibility to protect. Heads of State and Government unanimously affirmed at the Summit that “each individual State has the responsibility to protect its populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity”.
The report outlines a three-pillar strategy for advancing the agenda and concludes with recommendations on the way forward.
The twentieth century was marred by the Holocaust, the killing fields of Cambodia, the genocide in Rwanda and the mass killings in Srebrenica, the latter two under the watch of the Security Council and United Nations peacekeepers. The worst human tragedies of the past century were not confined to any particular part of the world. They occurred in the North and in the South, in poor, medium-income and relatively affluent countries. In each case there were warning signs. The signals of trouble ahead were, time and again, ignored, set aside or minimized by high-level national and international decision makers with competing political agendas. At times the United Nations — its inter-governmental organs and its Secretariat — failed to do its part. Citing a “lack of resources and political commitment.
Key findings:
The three pillars outlined are:
- The protection responsibilities of the State. The enduring responsibility of the State to protect its populations, whether nationals or not, from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, and from their incitement. This responsibility derives both from the nature of State sovereignty and from the pre-existing and continuing legal obligations of States.
- International assistance and capacity-building. The commitment of the international community to assist States in meeting those obligations. It seeks to draw on the cooperation of Member States, regional and sub-regional arrangements, civil society and the private sector, as well as on the institutional strengths and comparative advantages of the United Nations system.
- Timely and decisive response. The responsibility of Member States to respond collectively in a timely and decisive manner when a State is manifestly failing to provide such protection. A reasoned, calibrated and timely response could involve any of the broad range of tools available to the United Nations and its partners. These would include pacific measures under Chapter VI of the Charter, coercive ones under Chapter VII and/or collaboration with regional and sub-regional arrangements under Chapter VIII.
The way forward:
- Assembling the pieces of this common strategy will require determined and far-sighted leadership, as well as a renewed political commitment. It will also be essential to reaffirm the complementary and mutually reinforcing roles of the General Assembly and the Security Council in carrying forward this mandate. Other intergovernmental bodies, such as the Human Rights Council, the Peacebuilding Commission and the Economic and Social Council, can also play important parts in implementing the tasks set out in paragraphs 138 and 139 of the Summit Outcome.
