7 R2P Flashcards
Session 7
Humanitarian Intervention
Spencer Zifcak, Responsibility to Protect (chapter 16 in Evans, 5thedition,30 pages)
The right to intervene in another country despite the soveriginity norm.
UN Charter 2(4) - to respects state soverignity
UN Charter 39 - UNSC can use force to respond a threat against international peace and security.
UN Charter 51 - Right to self-defence untill UNSC has taken countermeasures.
Not only military intervention. Embargo, sanctions, diplomatic sanctions.
R2P
Responsibility to protect
Spencer Zifcak, Responsibility to Protect (chapter 16 in Evans, 5th edition, 30 pages)
Political framework agreed upon.
1. ICISS 2001.
2. World Summit 2005, paragraph 138, 139 and 40.
138 - pillar1-2
139 - pillar 3
To prevent a comission of mass atrocity crimes.
Aligns UNC C VII - Rome Statute 13b and 16.
R2P history
Spencer Zifcak, Responsibility to Protect (chapter 16 in Evans, 5th edition, 30 pages)
Genocide and ethnic cleansing in Rwanda and the Balkans in the 1990s.
ICISS
International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty
Spencer Zifcak, Responsibility to Protect (chapter 16 in Evans, 5th edition, 30 pages)
Published the R2P report in 2001 to find common ground about state soverignity and human rights protection.
Non state actors, previos head of state and scholors.
Also African scholars.
-> World summit 2005
State soverignity vs. human rights
Spencer Zifcak, Responsibility to Protect (chapter 16 in Evans, 5th edition, 30 pages)
This is a core tension in international law and politics that R2P attempts to address.
UN Charter 2(4)
Spencer Zifcak, Responsibility to Protect (chapter 16 in Evans, 5th edition, 30 pages)
State soverignity
UN Charter VII
Spencer Zifcak, Responsibility to Protect (chapter 16 in Evans, 5th edition, 30 pages)
Allows to intervene despite state soverignity.
- Threat against international peace and security.
Interventions with UNSC authority
Spencer Zifcak, Responsibility to Protect (chapter 16 in Evans, 5th edition, 30 pages)
Rwanda, Bosnia, Somalia
Interventions without UNSC authority
Spencer Zifcak, Responsibility to Protect (chapter 16 in Evans, 5th edition, 30 pages)
Kosovo in 1999
R2P 3 pillars
Spencer Zifcak, Responsibility to Protect (chapter 16 in Evans, 5th edition, 30 pages)
Repsonsibility to
1. Prevent (state itself)
2. React (with consent with the state)
3. Intervene (international community)
World Summit Refferal
Spencer Zifcak, Responsibility to Protect (chapter 16 in Evans, 5th edition, 30 pages)
Ever since implemented, despite its a resolution, it has been reffered to - including UNSC, when making draft resolutions or resolutions.
R2P customary law
Spencer Zifcak, Responsibility to Protect (chapter 16 in Evans, 5th edition, 30 pages)
Opinio juris: UNSC reffering and acting on it resolutions
UN SG issuing annual report on R2P
Challenges:
Lack of consistent practice (SC politiziced)
Disagrements of the scope of R2P (India ambassador)
Mass atrocity crimes
Gregor P. Hofmann, Ten Years R2P –What Doesn’t Kill a Norm Only Makes It Stronger?, PRIF Report no. 133, 2015 (32 pages)
Crimes against humanity, war crimes and ethnical cleansing.
Gregor P. Hofmann, Ten Years R2P –What Doesn’t Kill a Norm Only Makes It Stronger?, PRIF Report no. 133, 2015 (32 pages)
R2P as norm selectivity
Gregor P. Hofmann, Ten Years R2P –What Doesn’t Kill a Norm Only Makes It Stronger?, PRIF Report no. 133, 2015 (32 pages)
Concerns that R2P is applied inconsistently, often based on political considerations rather than objective criteria. Critics point to the Security Council’s inaction in some cases, like Syria, while intervening in others, like Libya, as evidence of selectivity.
Gregor P. Hofmann, Ten Years R2P –What Doesn’t Kill a Norm Only Makes It Stronger?, PRIF Report no. 133, 2015 (32 pages)
Reforming the UNSC
G4
Karen Adams, Reforming Membership and Voting in the UN Security Council, October 2013, 4-9
Consists of Germany, India, Brazil, and Japan. Advocates for adding six permanent seats (including one for each G4 member and two for African states), four non-permanent seats, and limiting veto power
Cold War UNSC paralyzed
Karen Adams, Reforming Membership and Voting in the UN Security Council, October 2013, 4-9
The Cold War rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union often led to deadlock in the Security Council. Veto.
Vetoes Since R2P Endorsement
Instances veto has been used since the endorsement of R2P in 2005,
often by Russia and China to block resolutions concerning human rights abuses in countries like:
Myanmar, Zimbabwe, and Syria.
Silent veto
Resolutions not even proposed due to a P5 political perferences.
Advisory Opinion
Jennifer Trahan, Legal Limits to the Veto Power in the Face of Atrocity Crimes, 11 April 2019 (3 pages)
A not legal binding opinion from ICJ based on a request from UNSC, GA or other UN organs.
Voluntary veto restraint
Jennifer Trahan, Legal Limits to the Veto Power in the Face of Atrocity Crimes, 11 April 2019 (3 pages)
Initiatives that ask that the permanent members of the Security Council voluntarily restrain their veto use in the face of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
UK and France signed this initative.
Genocide Convention
Jennifer Trahan, Legal Limits to the Veto Power in the Face of Atrocity Crimes, 11 April 2019 (3 pages)
- GA.
Sates that are parties to this treaty are legally obligated to “prevent” genocide, meaning that they must use due diligence and their positions of influence to try to prevent genocide from happening
Geneva Convention
Jennifer Trahan, Legal Limits to the Veto Power in the Face of Atrocity Crimes, 11 April 2019 (3 pages)
1949
A set of four treaties and three additional protocols that establish the standards of international law for humanitarian treatment in war.
Due diligence
Jennifer Trahan, Legal Limits to the Veto Power in the Face of Atrocity Crimes, 11 April 2019 (3 pages)
The legal principle that requires states to take all reasonable steps to prevent harm to its population, the state it self and its territory within their jurisdiction or under their control.
Options for Responding to Atrocities in Ukraine
Information Warfare
Legal Proceedings, supporting ICC work.
Economic Sanctions, the existing economic sanctions against Russia are significant, but the source argues that they should be strengthened
Diplomatic Sanctions: These sanctions can range from expelling diplomats to severing diplomatic ties completely. While some states have expelled Russian diplomats, no state has completely severed diplomatic relations.
Military Assistance: Providing Ukraine with the military assistance it needs to defend itself is seen as a vital aspect of fulfilling R2P.
