ICISS report - International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect

The Responsibility to Protect 3
1.9 The Commission was strongly committed from the outset to consulting as widely as
possible around the world, including in the countries of all five permanent members of the
Security Council. Over the course of a year, accordingly, roundtable meetings or consultations
were conducted in Beijing, Cairo, Geneva, London, Maputo, New Delhi, New York, Ottawa,
Paris, St Petersburg, Santiago and Washington. The discussions at those meetings were
invariably rich and rewarding; they are summarized in the supplementary volume accompanying
this report. In addition, individual Commissioners and members of the research team
attended a large number of conferences and seminars – often by special invitation or in a
representative capacity. The Commission has also made a particular effort to consult a broad
range of academic thinking and expertise; much of this analysis and advice is embodied in the
research papers and bibliography contained in the supplementary volume.
THE CHANGING INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT
1.10 The issues and preoccupations of the 21 st century present new and often fundamentally
different types of challenges from those that faced the world in 1945, when the United
Nations was founded. As new realities and challenges have emerged, so too have new
expectations for action and new standards of conduct in national and international affairs.
Since, for example, the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 on the World Trade Center and
Pentagon, it has become evident that the war against terrorism the world must now fight –
one with no contested frontiers and a largely invisible enemy – is one like no other war
before it.
1.11 Many new international institutions have been created to meet these changed circumstances.
In key respects, however, the mandates and capacity of international institutions
have not kept pace with international needs or modern expectations. Above all, the issue of
international intervention for human protection purposes is a clear and compelling
example of concerted action urgently being needed to bring international norms and
institutions in line with international needs and expectations.
1.12 The current debate on intervention for human protection purposes is itself both a
product and a reflection of how much has changed since the UN was established. The
current debate takes place in the context of a broadly expanded range of state, non-state, and
institutional actors, and increasingly evident interaction and interdependence among them.
It is a debate that reflects new sets of issues and new types of concerns. It is a debate that
is being conducted within the framework of new standards of conduct for states and
individuals, and in a context of greatly increased expectations for action. And it is a debate
that takes place within an institutional framework that since the end of the Cold War has
held out the prospect of effective joint international action to address issues of peace,
security, human rights and sustainable development on a global scale.
New Actors
1.13 With new actors – not least new states, with the UN growing from 51 member states
in 1945 to 189 today – has come a wide range of new voices, perspectives, interests,
experiences and aspirations. Together, these new international actors have added both
depth and texture to the increasingly rich tapestry of international society and important
institutional credibility and practical expertise to the wider debate.
1.14 Prominent among the range of important new actors are a number of institutional
actors and mechanisms, especially in the areas of human rights and human security. They
have included, among others, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the