Understanding the concept of the responsibility to protect from the humanitarian military perspective

Submitted in partial realization of the requisites for a Bachelor's Degree in Law (LL.B) at Strathmore UniversityThe aim of the research is to seek to show the contribution the concept of R2P has brought about in the stoppage of magnitude acts of violence and the need to safeguard the rights of the human populations that are susceptible to human rights violations. This research postulates an overview of the concept of R2P elucidating the reason as to why the notion was devised, what are the core issues in which the notion of R2P seeks to tackle along with demarcating the principles of the conception. It also stipulates the evolution of the concept of R2P as of the ICISS Report of 2001 to its support at the UN World Summit in 2005 and in the UN Reports. Moreover, the study provides some background context on some of the prevailing theoretical foundations. The research looks into the current status of R2P as an international legal concept by looking further at case studies of some of its most recent applications or evocations in Kenya and Libya preceded by an examination of humanitarian intervention in Rwanda and Kosovo in 1999 before the concept bore fruition. Essentially, it marks out what the research has contributed to the international sphere. The research predominantly employed a comparative research methodology as depicted in chapter 3 centring on analysis of the concept of R2P, the rhetoric of distinguished scholars in the field of international law, the UN documents that are available on the internet, as well as other relevant articles. The research concluded that what the R2P is trying to achieve is not to provide a mechanism to intervene in humanitarian situations but rather intervention in those cases in which there is a failure of the State to protect against the four mass atrocity crimes irrespective of how that failure has arisen. The doctrine of R2P stresses that a given situation where the state does not or "fails to protect" the rights of the citizens of the state, the international community is entitled to intervene and afford protection on these populations by invoking the concept of R2P in carrying out a humanitarian intervention. The main recommendation is to establish a global consensus. This is key for the efficacy of the conception in practice. What's in store for this conception rests in achieving grander consensus