June Advocacy Focus

posted by Susan

This is the introduction I wrote from our last email newsletter so some of you may have seen it already, but to all others read on!

The last couple months have provided fodder for some interesting conversations about the righteousness, efficacy, and political ramifications of the military action in Libya. It was/is a complicated question and we don’t pretend to know “the” answer.  What we decided to do however was spend the month of June looking at the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect, also known as R2P.

This is an introduction to R2P from the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect website:

“Recognizing the failure to adequately respond to the most heinous crimes known to humankind, world leaders made a historic commitment to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity at the United Nations (UN) 2005 World Summit. This commitment, entitled the Responsibility to Protect, stipulates that:

1. The State carries the primary responsibility for the protection of populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

2. The international community has a responsibility to assist States in fulfilling this responsibility.

3. The international community should use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means to protect populations from these crimes. If a State fails to protect its populations or is in fact the perpetrator of crimes, the international community must be prepared to take stronger measures, including the collective use of force through the UN Security Council.”

Over the next month we’ll look at the organizations that promote R2P, situations where it has been called for and not used, or called for and used.  We’ll also have our monthly advocacy packet focusing on R2P that you can receive via email by sending a request to susan@onemillionbones.org

If you have ideas for ways to investigate R2P, or thoughts on the ramifications of it as a policy please do share them in the comments.  As I always say, all of us here at OMB are learning as we go along and conversations, virtual or otherwise, are an important part of that process.  Hope to hear from you!