The United Nations General Assembly met yesterday at its headquarters in New York to discuss the responsibility to protect (R2P) doctrine and the continuing perpetration of atrocities across the world. These gatherings have been taking place annually since 2018, but they have done little to advance the proper enforcement of R2P. Yesterday’s meeting was no different.The UN may have failed to effectively apply R2P, but that does not mean it is a bad principle. It also does not mean we should give up on it.The idea of establishing a norm in international law to prevent crimes against humanity and genocide first emerged in the aftermath of the failure to stop the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia.In 2001, the International Committee on Intervention and State Sovereignty developed the framework for R2P. It was crafted first as an obligation of states to protect their own people, and then, when that fails, as an obligation of other states to take action.In 2005, at the UN World Summit, the world’s heads of state met to discuss the new framework. The final document adopted at the summit – which, in effect, embedded R2P into international law – read:“The international community, through the United Nations, also has the responsibility to use appropri …
