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Who's afraid of the responsibility to protect?

19 Dec 2012 - 10:29

Clingendael Policy Brief no. 16.

2011 can be seen as a watershed year for the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle: while the first international interventions invoking R2P were launched by the UN Security Council, the same year also saw a growing international reluctance towards further implementing, or even referring to, the principle. This paper will analyse the reasons for this evolution and make proposals to address issues highlighted by the 2011 operations and to revitalize the Responsibiolity to Protect.