The Duty to Protect Doctrine can be resurrected | United Nations

The United Nations General Assembly met yesterday at its headquarters in New York to discuss the responsibility of protecting the doctrine of (R2P) and continuing to treat atrocities around the world. These conferences have been held annually since 2018, but do little to advance the effective implementation of R2P. Yesterday’s meeting was no different.

The UN may have failed to implement R2P effectively, but that does not mean it is a bad policy. That doesn’t mean we should stop either.

The idea of ​​establishing a culture of international law against human rights violations and genocide began to emerge after the failure to stop the genocide in Rwanda and Bosnia.

In 2001, the International Committee on Intervention and State Sovereignty developed the R2P policy. It was created first as the responsibility of nations to protect their people, and then, when that fails, as the responsibility of other nations to act.

In 2005, at the UN General Assembly, world leaders met to discuss the new system. The final document adopted at the conference – which, in effect, incorporated R2P into international law – read:

“The nations of the world, through the United Nations, also have the responsibility to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, in accordance with Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter, to help protect people from executions, military violence, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.”

This also led to the fact that in July 2002, the International Criminal Court instituted a case to prosecute those responsible for war crimes, genocide and genocide.

All this represented the main point of the desire to ensure that the laws established by the laws to protect the needy and to punish all those who neglect the responsibility.

It was a wish and a thought to make the world a safer place.

But it didn’t help. There are various reasons for that failure.

Perhaps the biggest was the lack of interest from several powerful countries to implement R2P. Inaction by governments has led to extreme suffering, starvation, brutality and genocide. Ironically, several of them remain members of a group called the Friends of R2P.

There was also the politicization of R2P for geopolitical purposes. In 2011, when protests broke out in Libya, Muammar Gaddafi’s government responded with brutality. Western governments led by the US invoked R2P by asking the UN Security Council for permission to intervene.

What was supposed to be a humanitarian effort to protect the common people turned into a regime change operation. R2P regulation was his death sentence. Russia, a permanent member of the UNSC, as well as other powers, saw it as a way to get into the West and not a humanitarian doctrine.

What followed was international inaction on the horrific violence in Syria, Palestine, Sudan, DRC, Ethiopia, Myanmar, and elsewhere.

As a United Nations humanitarian and conflict resolution officer, I have seen the suffering and destruction that the failure to protect has caused. I have spent the last six years in the worst place in the world – the most miserable place.

I’m angry at leaders who get away with their “shows” without immediate action. I have mourned the dead and the afflicted. And I have never seen justice for those who have made these tragedies a new habit.

And yet, everywhere, I was reminded of the power of human kindness and compassion. Everywhere I went, I met people who gave their all to help refugees fleeing war, who opened their schools and hospitals to receive the homeless and wounded and spent their own money to feed and clothe them.

This world of kindness and respect is invisible to international politics. However, apathy did not diminish. Indeed, it has grown even as leaders continue to withhold important public policy and hide behind weak rhetoric.

The humanitarian principles and ideals behind R2P are still there, and it is up to us to return them to the noble and inspiring place they once were. There are steps the UN can take that go beyond annual meetings to implement this law.

First of all, the international committee that coordinates the R2P process should be reorganized and given the task of updating it to ensure that it is used properly, defining the conditions and scope of work.

Second, their report must be recognized and approved by the UN, with the General Assembly, the Security Council, and the Human Rights Council putting their weight behind it.

Third, there should be a mechanism for reporting to the UN on situations where R2P may be used. This would require a formal mandate for the UN to take over the role.

All of this would require political will, which can only be created when the threat of public opposition to continued atrocities is imminent.

In Sudan, right now, another era of genocide is coming. El Obeid is surrounded, and all indications are that the atrocities that took place in El-Fasher last year will repeat themselves there.

We must act quickly and decisively. Stopping killing is not politics; and human nature.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.