Minerva, Spring 2008 (Volume 32) - Citizens for Global Solutions

tation. Some are concerned that the responsibility to protect will be defined too narrowly,
as a doctrine for military intervention. Conversely, others feel that the concept
is too vague to be particularly useful as an advocacy tool and are unclear about how
to promote its implementation. Valid questions have been raised about which conflicts
it should be applied to and, if applied, the range of measures to invoke – from early
preventive action to military intervention. Advocacy groups have expressed confusion
over whether to use the responsibility to protect as an advocacy tool in relation to specific
conflicts, or whether they should promote the concept in and of itself. Amid the
confusion, Darfur provides a constant reminder of the substantial gap between agreed
concepts of civilian protection and the capacity and will to implement them.
ACTORS AND PROCESSES: From Articulation to Implementation
The United Nations
The United Nations has a lead role to play in implementing the responsibility to protect.
In 1999, Kofi Annan warned that “if the collective conscience of humanity . . .
cannot find in the United Nations its greatest tribune, there is grave danger that it will
look elsewhere for peace and for justice”. 17 It seems this warning is slowly but surely
being heeded. For example, in May 2007, Ban Ki-moon strengthened and expanded
the mandate of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide. 18 In early 2008, a
second Special Advisor was appointed to focus primarily on developing consensus
around the Responsibility to Protect.
Implementing the responsibility to protect, however, cannot be limited to one office – it
will require efforts across the system, particularly the Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). There have been positive
signals that the responsibility to protect is taking hold in these and other parts of the
system. The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, has been a vocal
advocate for the responsibility to protect. OCHA appears to be slowly but surely incorporating
elements of the responsibility to protect into its broader work programme
on the protection of civilians in armed conflict. DPKO lessons-learned exercises and
the development of doctrine for peace operations are positive developments. In early
2007, a Human Rights Council high-level mission on Darfur used the responsibility
to protect as an organizing framework for its analysis of the human rights situation
in the region. 19 The establishment of a new Peacebuilding Commission and efforts to
strengthen the UN’s conflict prevention mechanisms 20 also contribute to the ability to
move the preventive and reconstructive dimension of the responsibility to protect from
concept to reality.
Regional/Multilateral Organizations
Footnotes 17–20:
17 Kofi Annan, Address to the UN General
Assembly (New York: 20 September
1999)
18 Juan Mendez held the part-time
position of Special Adviser on the Prevention
of Genocide from 2004-2007.
Throughout 2006, a Special Advisory
Committee developed recommendations
for strengthening the office. It was subsequently
upgraded to a full-time position.
Francis Deng was appointed to this post
in May 2006.
19 Report of the High-Level Mission on
the situation of human rights in Darfur
pursuant to Human Rights Council
decision S-4/101, A/HRC/4/80 (Geneva:
Human Rights Council, 7 March 2007)
20 See “Security Council Calls for
Boosting UN’s Role in Preventing,
Resolving Conflicts” (New York: United
Nations News, 28 August 2007)
Leadership for implementing the responsibility to protect begins with the United Nations,
but it does not end there. The role of multilateral organizations other than the UN
should not be underestimated, both in strengthening international commitment to the
concept as well as in implementation.
The European Union, for example, expressed explicit support for embracing and upholding
the responsibility to protect at a crucial point in the debates leading up to the
2005 World Summit. The EU continues to support the implementation of the concept at
a rhetorical level, yet there is little indication that either the Human Rights Council or
the Peacebuilding Commission is working to incorporate the responsibility to protect
into its programme of activities. A proposal for establishing an international centre
for the prevention of genocide, championed by Javier Solana, Europe’s top official in
international affairs, may be a positive development in this regard.
17 • Minerva #32 • June 2008