Publication

This report examines the Right to Protect (R2P), the recently developed political norm aimed at spurring governments to act in preventing genocide and other major violations of international humanitarian law. According to this brief, R2P is designed to reinforce, not undermine, national sovereignty. Only when a government fails or refuses to live up to the responsibility of sovereignty does it run the risk of outside intervention. The authors call upon global leaders to treat the implementation of R2P as a core element in the nation’s foreign policy planning even though it is sometimes contested.