The Responsibility to Protect—an Emerging Norm?

Abstract

In recent years the concept of %an international responsibility to protect' has gained substantial support. If the government of a sovereign state grossly oppresses its people or proves incapable of protecting them, then, it is argued, the international community has a duty to intervene?initially by peaceful means but if necessary through forceful military action authorised by the UN Security Council. A former UN secretary-general described this as an 'emerging norm'. But the concept has also encountered opposition?in particular from countries that emerged to independence from colonial rule. This paper considers historic examples of intervention across state frontiers contrary to the traditional principles of state sovereignty that evolved in Europe over recent centuries. The paper does not reject international intervention in failed states or where gross and large-scale abuses verge on genocide, but it recommends a cautious approach and suggests ways of advancing the concept at the UN.