TodaysNetworkNews: 23 July 2009 - United Nations - UNTV: At a General Assembly debate on the 'responsibility to protect' (R2P), US political activist Noam Chomsky argues that it is linked to humanitarian intervention which he says has been abused throughout history, while former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans urges UN member states not to reopen negotiations on a principle adopted in 2005 to help solve the world's "most ugly" problems.
The principle of responsibility to protect, the international understanding to intervene to stop atrocities from taking place, could pose a threat to national sovereignty, General Assembly President Miguel DEscoto warned today (23 July).
Agreed to by world leaders in 2005, responsibility to protect sometimes known as R2P holds states responsible for shielding their own populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and related crimes against humanity, requiring the international community to step in if this obligation is not met.
In a statement to the Assemblys thematic dialogue on the issue, DEscoto said that the legacy of colonialism gave developing countries strong reasons to fear that laudable motives can end up being misused, once more, to justify arbitrary and selective interventions against the weakest states.
A panel discussion among experts was part of the General Assembly thematic debate.
Panelist Noam Chomsky argued that the responsibility to protect, as a cousin of humanitarian intervention, needed to be viewed in a historical context. Chomsky said that virtually every use of force in international affairs has been justified in humanitarian terms, including the worst monsters, and cited as examples Japans attack on Manchuria, Mussolinis invasion of Ethiopia, and Hitlers occupation of parts of Czechoslovakia.
Fellow panelist Gareth Evans, who was involved in developing the principle of R2P, dismissed humanitarian intervention as dead, but said that the responsibility to protect was very much alive.
Responding to the General Assembly Presidents concerns, Evans underlined that R2P was a universal doctrine with universal application, adding that potential problems with the exercise of the veto by the permanent members of the Security Council was a constraint affecting the UNs entire role in peace and security, but was not made worse in any sense at all by the R2P.
Indeed, he said, the whole point of the responsibility to protect is to open up a universe, a whole universe of policy options, policy responses by relevant players in a way that makes the issue of coercion in any shape or form hopefully something which will only very rarely arise.
Earlier this week, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented to the General Assembly a series of measures designed to prevent genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and related crimes against humanity, stressing it was high time to turn the promise of the responsibility to protect into practice.
The Secretary-Generals proposals, under consideration by the 192-member Assembly, rest on three pillars: State responsibility; international assistance and capacity-building; and timely and decisive response.
At todays panel discussion, Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiongo recalled that international efforts culminating in mediation by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had eventually helped stop the flow of blood when Kenya erupted into ethnic violence following disputed elections in late 2007.
Ngugi said events in Kenya had reminded him of those in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Iraq, and reminded him of Shakespeares Julius Caesar where the assassins, after bathing in the blood of their victims, ask how many times shall this our deeds be done in nations and states as yet unborn?
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The Responsibility to Protect, Noam Chomsky and Friends Part 5by PlasticJesus3413,298 views
@redsam888 - chomsky destroyed Evans with his example of Congo. Democratise the UN to stop the great power committing great crimes.
radoa1 1 year ago
it really hurts to see all the lies of our world leaders tearing humanity apart for there own greed. i am left feeling so helpless!!!
redsam888 2 years ago