Operationalizing the responsibility to protect in the context of civilian protection by UN peacekeepers

Hitoshi Nasu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This article examines how operationalizing the 'responsibility to protect' (R2P) concept may assist in defining the scope of civilian protection mandates for peacekeepers, which are ambiguously restricted by three caveats - 'imminent threat of physical violence', 'area of deployment' and 'capabilities'. It is argued that by restrictively interpreting civilian protection mandates in the light of R2P the limited resources of peacekeeping troops would be more effectively utilized to protect civilians from mass atrocity crimes. Greater investment would be required to build capacity among the more creative and specially trained units to protect civilians from physical violence, in addition to greater coordination between the military and those specially trained units.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)364-378
Number of pages15
JournalInternational Peacekeeping
Volume18
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2011

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