The Responsibility to Protect and the Problem of Inaction

A roundtable discussion on the international communities’ responses to humanitarian crises

And the Role of Parliamentarians

  1. Background

In September of last year, at the UN World Summit, the international community made a landmark commitment to universal human rights by endorsing the principle of the responsibility to protect. (2005 World Summit Outcome

Since endorsement, references to the principle of Responsibility to Protect have increased, such as in the case of Darfur (Resolution1706[2]).

Regrettably, the international community is continuing to drag its feet, particularly when faced with the need for a military solution. Although encouraged by the potential contribution of the principle of the Responsibility to Protect, the persistence of the crisis in Darfur is demonstrating the continued failure of the international community to protect the people from gross violations of human rights.

  1. Purpose

As parliamentarians, it is our moral and political responsibility to ensure our governments and the international community responds promptly and appropriately to humanitarian crises. At present, the international community must not only reaffirm its commitment to fulfill its responsibility to protect, it also needs a new tool, a new mechanism, to fill the gap between need and capacity.

This roundtable will aim to accomplish the following:

  • to further parliamentarians’ understanding of the concept of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and its incorporation in the national legislation and practices,
  • to explore the concrete applications of the Responsibility to Protect to current humanitarian crisis, such as in Darfur, Myanmar, and N. Korea, and
  • to consider a new tool to fill the gap between need and capacity: a UN Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS), envisioned as a 12-18,000-strong unit of military personnel, civilian police, legal experts, and relief professionals from various countries who are voluntarily employed by the UN.
  1. Date: December 6th, 2006 15:30 ~17:30
  1. Venue: Kensei Kinenkan (Parliamentary Museum), Conf. Rm. 1, Tokyo
  1. Language: English, Japanese

PROGRAM

(9:30-15:15)PGA International Council Meeting

15:30Forum opens

* Coffee/tea is served to participants

15:30-15:40Introductory Remarks, by Coun. Tadashi Inuzuka (subject to change)

15:40-15:50Introduction to the Responsibility to Protect Norm, by Dr. Vesselin Popovski, UNU

  • Background on norm and its adoption by the UN
  • The importance of the responsibility to prevent and the responsibility to react using measures short of force
  • How national legislation and practice can support the international community’s responsibility to protect.
  • The Role of Parliamentarians

15:50-16:00Making the principle of R2P a reality, byMs. Nicole Deller, WFM

  • Some of the international and institutional developments in trying to make this principle a reality: the progress thus far and the gaps and challenges.
  • How national legislation and practice can support the international community’s responsibility to protect.

16:00-16:10Capacity of the international community to respond, byProf. Kenji Isezaki

  • How to respond: which institutions and how (i.e. CSO, police, military)
  • An evaluation of recurring obstacles: response time, effectiveness, resources, and problem of reliability.

16:10-16:20A new mechanism for emergency humanitarian relief: United Nations Emergency Peace Service: A call for inter-parliamentary support, by Coun. Tadashi Inuzuka

16:20-17:15OPEN FORUM Case Studies: applications of the Responsibility to Protect norm and the challenge of avoiding politicization

  • The case of Sudan
  • The case of Myanmar[3], intervention by Rep.Loretta Rosales
  • The case of North Korea[4]

17:15-17:45Proposals and Closing Statements

[1]“According to that document the international community should put aside its narrow self interest and act to prevent genocide or ethnic cleansing” (Archbishop Desmond Tutu).

[2]Resolution 1706:12. Acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations:

(a) Decides that UNMIS is authorized to use all necessary means, in the areas of deployment of its forces and as it deems within its capabilities:

– to protect United Nations personnel, facilities, installations and equipment, to ensure the security and freedom of movement of United Nations personnel, humanitarian workers, assessment and evaluation commission personnel, to prevent disruption of the implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement by armed groups, without prejudice to the responsibility of the Government of the Sudan, to protect civilians under threat of physical violence,

– in order to support early and effective implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement, to prevent attacks and threats against civilians, …

[3]Threat to the Peace: A Call for the UN Security Council to Act in Burma(Sept. 2005, Report Commissioned By: Vacláv Havel, Former President of the Czech Republic; Bishop Desmond M. Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate in 1984)

Internal Displacement in Easter Burma: 2006 Survey (Nov. 2006, by Thailand Burma Border Consortium)

[4]Failure to Protect: A Call for the UN Security Council to Act in North Korea (Oct. 2006, Report Commissioned By: Václav Havel, Former President of the Czech Republic; Kjell Magne Bondevik, Former Prime Minister of Norway; Professor Elie Wiesel, Boston University Nobel Peace Prize Laureate in1986); see (p83-93, p109-118)