Sri Lanka And The Responsibility To Protect

This book is about the issues and challenges facing the implementation of the Responsibility To Protect principle in the case of Sri Lanka, where the Tamil Tigers have been fighting to create a separate state.

The responsibility to protect ('R2P') principle articulates the obligations of the international community to prevent conflict occurring, to intervene in conflicts, and to assist in rebuilding after conflicts. The doctrine is about protecting civilians in armed conflicts from four mass atrocity crimes: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. This book examines interventions in East Timor, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Kosovo. The chapters explore and question UN debates with respect to the doctrine both before and after its adoption in 2005; contrasting state attitudes to international military intervention; and what takes place after intervention. It also discusses the ability of the Security Council to access reliable information and credible and transparent processes to enable it to make a determination on the occurrence of atrocities in a Member State. Questioning whether there is a need to find a closer operational link between the responsibilities to prevent and react and a normative link between R2P and principles of international law, the contributions examine the effectiveness of the framework of R2P for international decision-making in response to mass atrocity crimes and ask how an international system to deal with threats and mass atrocities can be developed in the absence of a central authority. This book will be valuable to those interested in international law, human rights, and security, peace and conflict studies.

This Handbook offers a comprehensive examination of the Responsibility to Protect norm in world politics, which aims to end mass atrocities against civilians. The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is amongst the most significant norms in global politics. As the authoritative guide to R2P, this edited volume gathers together the most respected and insightful voices to address key issues related to this emerging norm. The contributing authors do this over the course of three parts: Part I: The Concept of R2P Part II: Developing and Operationalising R2P Part III: The view from Over Here This book will be of much interest to students of R2P, humanitarian intervention, genocide, human rights, international law, peace studies, international organisations, security studies and IR.

This book explores conceptual and operational questions regarding the development and implementation of the Responsibility to Protect. The mass atrocity norm known as the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) has enjoyed meteoric success since the concept was introduced in 2001. But perhaps precisely because of how quickly the concept secured its privileged place in the pantheon of ideas and concerns in international affairs, many fundamental questions remain concerning its origins, its conceptual contents, and its relevance to actual cases of mass atrocity. This book seeks to explore that terrain by drawing together a group of scholars diverse enough to engage with the complex array of political, legal and ethical questions raised by R2P. Critical questions raised here include: What are the limits of the authority that R2P confers on international actors? What does the evolution of R2P mean for North-South relations? Just how significant is R2P in the context of the broader human rights landscape? In addition to those conceptual and theoretical matters, special attention is given to the operational context in which the meaning of R2P is ultimately rendered. As events in Africa have figured so significantly into the norm’s development, the contributors pay special attention to the problems and prospects of mass atrocity prevention in that context. This volume will be of much interest to students of the Responsibility to Protect, war and conflict studies, peacebuilding, international law, and IR/Security Studies.

This book provides a study of the war by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to create a separate state in Sri Lanka. It examines the ways in which this war should, in principle, have invoked ‘Responsibility to Protect’ principles, as well as the political, legal and practical problems involved and, ultimately, why the international community failed to act. Over the years there have been several events, including those in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, Darfur, and Kosovo, that have led the international community to accept a responsibility to protect. However, despite its overwhelming preliminary endorsement, the principles of this concept are still not universally sanctioned and there are some strong international opponents, including some countries that were initial signatories of the convention. By considering the example of Sri Lanka, the text focuses on what conditions could satisfy or demand the application of responsibility to protect. It further presents a case as to why this conflict was, and may still be, the normative responsibility of the international community. Sri Lanka and the Responsibility to Protect will be of great interest to students of South-East Asian politics, human rights, international law, ethnic conflict, security studies and IR in general.

This book provides an in-depth introduction to, and analysis of, the issues relating to the implementation of the recent Responsibility to Protect principle in international relations The Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) has come a long way in a short space of time. It was endorsed by the General Assembly of the UN in 2005, and unanimously reaffirmed by the Security Council in 2006 (Resolution 1674) and 2009 (Resolution 1894). UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has identified the challenge of implementing RtoP as one of the cornerstones of his Secretary-Generalship. The principle has also become part of the working language of international engagement with humanitarian crises and has been debated in relation to almost every recent international crisis – including Sudan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Georgia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Darfur and Somalia. Concentrating mainly on implementation challenges including the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities, strengthening the UN’s capacity to respond, and the role of regional organizations, this book introducing readers to contemporary debates on R2P and provides the first book-length analysis of the implementation agenda. The book will be of great interest to students of the responsibility to protect, humanitarian intervention, human rights, foreign policy, security studies and IR and politics in general.

This book takes a holistic approach by capturing the various perspectives and viewpoints concerning the theory and practice of Human Rights Journalism. Firstly, this book helps fill the epistemological vacuum present in Human Rights Journalism by proposing ‘pragmatic objectivity’ within the critical constructivist epistemology. Secondly, it defines the Human Rights Journalism-Responsibility to Protect nexus by identifying five key elements. Thirdly, it proposes a Human Rights Journalism-Responsibility to Protect conceptual model, which illustrates how an embedded human rights focussed media strategy can be designed. Fourthly, this book proposes two novel quantitative analysis tools called the ‘Framing Matrix’ and the ‘Multimodal Discourse Analysis Matrix’ that are equipped to deal with a big sample size over a long period of time. These tools are used to examine the practice of Human Rights Journalism and the typology of news stories of distant sufferings. Finally, it provides a scientific explanation for those in search of the answer to why one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, which took place in Sri Lanka in 2009, did not create any global compassion or garner attention.

The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is intended to provide an effective framework for responding to crimes of genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. It is a response to the many conscious-shocking cases where atrocities - on the worst scale - have occurred even during the post 1945 period when the United Nations was built to save us all from the scourge of genocide. The R2P concept accords to sovereign states and international institutions a responsibility to assist peoples who are at risk - or experiencing - the worst atrocities. R2P maintains that collective action should be taken by members of the United Nations to prevent or halt such gross violations of basic human rights. This Handbook, containing contributions from leading theorists, and practitioners (including former foreign ministers and special advisors), examines the progress that has been made in the last 10 years; it also looks forward to likely developments in the next decade.