Mainstreaming the Responsibility to Protect in the United Nations System: Dilemmas, Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

This article examines the challenges and opportunities for mainstreaming RtoP within the UN system and proposes a way forward. First, it examines what is meant by ‘mainstreaming’ in the UN context and progress made thus far. Second, it reviews some of the principal dilemmas that have arisen in different parts of the UN system, notably in relation to the system’s political work, humanitarian activities, peacekeeping operations, human rights promotion and protection, and capacity-building. Third, it considers the extent to which the Secretary-General’s vision accommodates these concerns. Finding that, to a great extent, it does, the final section offers some recommendations for moving forward which harnesses the basic principles for mainstreaming outlined by the Secretary-General and develops into four areas: incorporating an ‘atrocity prevention lens’, information sharing, capacity building and lessons learning.