Human security and the politics of protection: avoiding or enhancing responsibility?

Abstract

In the passages referring to the "Responsibility to Protect" (R2P), the resolution of the 2005 UN reform summit confirms the responsibility of every government for the protection of its people from mass atrocities. The consensus on this issue was reconfirmed by various Security Council resolutions since 2005 and also through resolutions of the General Assembly and of the Human Rights Council. However, the role of the international community with regard to the responsibility of individual governments remains contested. The domestic conflicts in the Arab world underline the urgency of a consistent international engagement within the framework of the R2P. They also demonstrate the basic predicaments of any endeavor to protect people from domestic violence through outside interference. The present paper addresses these predicaments with regard to the tension between the responsibility to protect and the "responsibility to peace", the interplay between humanitarian and non-humanitarian issues in the politics of protection and the difficulties to establish the appropriateness of protective measures in view of the complexities of any international protective measure. The paper argues that the politics of protection will continue to reflect these dilemmas. Nevertheless, the R2P provides a normative framework within which the shortcomings and inconsistencies of the politics of protection can be addressed in a constructive way.