From Atrocity Crimes to Human Rights: Expanding the Focus of the Responsibility to Protect

The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) was envisaged by its authors to encompass a wide
range of human rights protections. In order to gain state support for the idea of the
R2P, its focus was narrowed to the protection of populations from atrocity crimes. This
article challenges the ‘atrocity lens’, arguing that the restricted focus is both practically
and conceptually flawed. Practically, it has failed to inspire action in situations where
there were good reasons to believe that atrocities were occurring. Conceptually, it has
led to a counterproductive focus in R2P implementation on conflict and on particular
actors within conflict. The article therefore explores the possibilities and implications
of stretching the focus of R2P back to the broader vision found within the iciss
report. It concludes that there are significant potential benefits to adopting a ‘human
rights lens’ if states are willing to fulfil their pillars one and two responsibilities.