Publications /
Policy Brief

Back
Policy as Implementation: Reconsidering the Responsibility to Protect Doctrine
Authors
Noamane Cherkaoui
May 13, 2022

Adoption of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) Doctrine at the United Nations’ 2005 World Summit constituted a watershed moment for international diplomacy and multilateralism. With multiple pillars, R2P was established to ensure that the international community was better placed to act in the face of mass atrocity. Unfortunately, R2P’s poor implementation, and weaponization that has undermined its precepts, have seen it displaced from the holistic framework of state-building and conflict prevention in which it belongs. While it is clear that R2P has benefits as a doctrine, it can be reconsidered to a limited extent to ensure its functioning is optimized, including through United Nations Security Council reform. The UN General Assembly recently adopting a resolution by consensus that calls for a post-veto General Assembly meeting is a positive step on which progress can be built.

RELATED CONTENT

  • July 12, 2024
    The European Elections of 2024 were marked by a significant surge in sovereigntist parties at the expense of liberals and greens, while moderate right and left-wing parties also made notable gains. Despite the substantial wins and losses during this election, no single bloc emerged with the overall majority of 361 seats in the European Parliament. The impression from the new political balances emerging from the 2024 elections is that the European People's Party, which won the electo ...
  • Authors
    May 28, 2024
    As the Bretton Woods institutions and the UN approach their eightieth anniversaries, they face challenges to their foundational principles of multilateralism. The rise of plurilateralism through regional financing institutions and organizations like the AIIB, BRICS, G20, and G7, is reshaping global governance. These shifts demand urgent reforms to the governance structures of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, to reflect the interests of emerging economies. Without ...
  • Authors
    August 4, 2023
    Twenty-Four Hours June 23-24, 2023. Over those days, Russia, the sanctioned world power, was not destabilized by the nuclear enemy in Washington, but by one man, who made his wealth serving food to school children and soldiers. A caterer who attempted a revolution. A bald man, who apparently wore wigs during his days off, as the Russian secret police claimed to have discovered when they searched his home in St Petersburg. The photos of the wig-wearing Yevgeny Prigozhin were shown o ...
  • May 24, 2023
    La création, par l’ONU, en 2006, du Conseil des droits de l’Homme (CDH) et la mise en place, une année après, de l'Examen périodique universel (EPU), ont constitué une avancée significative dans le processus de promotion de la protection des droits de l'Homme dans le monde. Désormais, et sans aucune distinction, tous les États sont régulièrement assujettis à cet examen qui couvre l’ensemble des droits individuels et collectifs ainsi que les libertés fondamentales consacrés par les I ...
  • April 25, 2023
    بمناسبة اليوم الدولي للتعددية والدبلوماسية من أجل السلام، قررنا تخصيص الحلقة إلى إفريقيا ومبدأ تعددية الاطراف في سياق اوضاع السلم والأمن الهشة في منطقة الساحل وانتشار عدم الاستقرار في البحيرات الافريقية الكبرى، بالإضافة إلى عجز مجلس الأمن التابع للأمم المتحدة عن مواجهة الحرب المستمرة ال...
  • Authors
    Said El Hachimi
    July 27, 2022
    Sleepless nights and the tireless search for compromise allowed WTO members to agree on concrete deliverables during the WTO 12th Ministerial Conference held last June. Those results reinforce Multilateralism. And this is a significant gain given the multiplicity of global crises that surround us. The Outcome include 6 Agreements, Declarations and Ministerial Decisions that respond to some of today's challenges, notably on Fisheries and Ocean Sustainability as well as responses to P ...
  • Authors
    Noamane Cherkaoui
    May 13, 2022
    Adoption of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) Doctrine at the United Nations’ 2005 World Summit constituted a watershed moment for international diplomacy and multilateralism. With multiple pillars, R2P was established to ensure that the international community was better placed to act in the face of mass atrocity. Unfortunately, R2P’s poor implementation, and weaponization that has undermined its precepts, have seen it displaced from the holistic framework of state-building and c ...
  • March 11, 2022
    L'opération militaire lancée le 24 février 2022 par les forces armées russes à l'intérieur du territoire de l’Ukraine a pour objectif déclaré d'empêcher l’Organisation du Traité de l’Atlantique Nord (OTAN) de se rapprocher de l”étranger proche” russe et de changer le régime à Kiev. Cette guerre, déclenchée par un membre permanent du Conseil de sécurité, a été menée en violation des principes cardinaux de la Charte des Nations unies. Elle a mis le monde au bord d’ ...