Core Documents: Understanding RtoP

In 2001, the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) released The Responsibility to Protect report, which redefined collective security by introducing a concept of shared responsibility. Since that time, other governments, international officials, academics and civil society organizations have taken up the Responsibility to Protect and contributed to its evolving meaning in the international community. Here is a review of some of these reports:

1. ICISS,"The Responsibility to Protect "(PDF)
The International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) was formed in September 2000 under the sponsorship of the Government of Canada with the goal of developing global political consensus about how and when the international community should respond to emerging crises involving the potential for large-scale loss of life and other widespread crimes against humanity.

ICISS concluded that state sovereignty entails responsibility for the protection of the states population. The report also emphasized that there is a secondary responsibility of the international community: "where a population is suffering serious harm, as a result of internal war, insurgency, repression or state failure, and the state in question is unwilling or unable to halt or avert it," it becomes the responsibility of the international community to intervene for protection purposes. The ICISS principles became known collectively as the Responsibility to Protect and the international community is urged support these Responsibility to Protect principles, emphasizing that prevention must be a priority. View a Summary of the ICISS Report.

2. The High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, "A More Secure World, Our Shared Responsibility" (PDF)
Released in December 2004, this UN report by eminent persons fully embraces the Responsibility to Protect principles. The concepts of collective responses and shared responsibility are at the heart of the report, which recognized that a system of genuine collective security will require addressing the security needs of all states.

The Secretary-General commissioned this group of eminent persons to assess the most urgent global security threats and issue recommendations on meeting them, in anticipation of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations and a meeting of world leaders in 2005. The report included 101 recommendations on how the world must meet the worlds security challenges collectively and comprehensively, including by embracing and implementing the Responsibility to Protect.

3. The Secretary-General, "In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All" (PDF)
In preparation for the 60th session of the General Assembly in 2005, the Secretary-General was asked to report on the implementation of the Millennium Declaration. After consultations with governments, UN officials and input from civil society, the Secretary-General released a report with recommendations on what issues heads of state and government should address at the High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly and in years to come.

The three pillars of the United Nations proposed by the Secretary-General development, security and human rights form the backbone of his report, which includes recommendations on strengthening the architecture of the international system. In the section entitled Freedom to Live in Dignity, representing the human rights pillar, the Secretary-General recommended that states embrace the merging norm of the Responsibility to Protect.

b)     2010 Report: Early Warning, Assessment, and the Responsibility to Protect
On 17 July 2010, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon released his report “Early warning, assessment, and the responsibility to protect” in an effort to further the General Assembly’s consideration of RtoP. The Secretary General’s report highlights the gaps and capacities facing the mechanisms of early warning and assessment within the UN system. The Report clearly emphasizes the need for further development of RtoP, calling for an informal interactive dialogue to be held in the General Assembly in 2011 on the role of regional and sub-regional organizations in implementing the norm. See our summary of the report.

Bibliography and selected articles concerning the responsibility to protect: click here