United Nations taking on a Responsibility to Protect Civilians

[dimpy.handa]

The world and the United Nations have for too long stood by and watched atrocities unfold. Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur are all horrible examples where genocide and other appalling violations of human rights were inflicted upon civilian populations while the UN failed to act. Clearly in all the past cases where action might have saved lives and delivered hundreds of thousands of people from evil, no action was taken by the Security Council. Therefore those who argue that future challenges should be considered purely on a case-by-case basis must accept that this is likely to mean yet more refusals to act decisively and so more needless suffering. We must place an obligation to act on the Security Council so that they are predisposed to respond seriously and swiftly in future. Countries who are not prepared for this obligation should step down from the Security Council.

 

[swatiraohnlu]

A strong United Nations commitment to the Right to Protect will create an effective deterrent to future atrocities. Governments and leaders who are considering attacks on their own people, or who are wavering in their commitment to defend them from harm, will know that ignoring their own obligations will bring swift action from the international community. Only once their ability to hide behind claims to absolute sovereignty has been removed will human rights be taken seriously by dictators and extremist regimes. Thus by adopting a strong UN position on the Responsibility to Protect, we can make states take their own responsibilities more seriously and make the need for any actual intervention very rare.