Research Projects
The ‘Responsibility to Protect’ in Africa
Contact Email: a.ramsbotham@ippr.org
Introduction
The aim of this project was to examine existing mechanisms for preventing and reacting to large-scale violent conflicts and gross human rights abuses in Africa and to set out new proposals for strengthening national, regional and international responses to these conflicts and abuses.
The overarching theme of the research was how the ‘responsibility to protect’ principles - as set out by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (2001), and reaffirmed by the UN High Level Panel (2004) - could be operationalised in Africa. The continuing massive human rights abuses in Darfur show how much still needs to be done to make a reality of these principles in many parts of the continent. This project was therefore designed to answer the question: how can we deal with Darfur and with Darfur-style situations in the future?
The project focused on four specific areas:
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Direct preventative actions, such as economic and political sanctions.
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The responsibility to react – examining ways to strengthen Africa’s, and the international community’s, peace and security capacity.
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Rethinking the legitimising framework for intervention.
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Developing the necessary political will for effective action.
Process
The project started in November 2005 and ran until May 2007. It involved three expert symposia (in the UK and Africa) and a major roundtable on Darfur, held in Addis Ababa. The project outcomes were four expert papers, an edited collection of essays on the Sudan, and a major ippr report, Safeguarding Civilians: Delivering on the Responsibility to Protect in Africa (published in May 2007).
This research project was the result of a collaboration between ippr and the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa, and was financially supported by the Canadian government's Human Security Program, the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ford Foundation and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Publications
Safeguarding Civilians:
Delivering on the responsibility to protect in Africa
In September 2005, at a meeting of the United Nations in New York, the world’s leaders endorsed an international ‘responsibility to protect’: an obligation to act to protect civilians in the face of war crimes or genocide, where the government locally is perpetrating these abuses itself or is unable or unwilling to stop them.
Darfur: The responsibility to protect
This collection of essays looks at African and international responses to the Dafur crisis to date, and examines future options to protect vulnerable civilians in Darfur.
There are no easy options left in Darfur, but there are two overarching priorities for international action: ensuring the deployment of an effective international force, and action to revive political negotiations.
The role of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in peace processes: The ICC must secure convictions to demonstrate its credibility and effectiveness but if ICC prosecutions of the leaders of warring factions are consistently trumped by peace processes, its value as a deterrent will be compromised. This report looks at how the needs of peace should be weighed against those of justice.
Events
Intervention and peacebuilding in Africa
9:30-11:00am Grimond Room, Portcullis House Westminster, SW1A 0AA ippr, in conjunction with the Africa All-Party Parliamentary Group, was delighted to host an event with Sir Emyr Jones Parry , the UK’s ambassador and Permanent Representati...
21/06/2007 -
Strengthening political will for intervention to protect civilians in African crises
This policy roundtable, held in Accra (Ghana) brought together high-level participants to discuss issues around the Responsibility to Protect and political will, and how they may be strengthened in order to offer greater protection to civilians in...
25/10/2006 - 26/10/2006
Protection of civilians in African crises by non-military means
At this high-level policy roundtable in London, Geofrey Mugumya (Director of Peace and Security for the African Union) gave the keynote speech. Other speakers included Nick Grono (International Crisis Group), Jeremy Carver CBE (Clifford Chan...
14/09/2006 -
Policy roundtable on the ‘Responsibility to Protect and the Darfur Crisis’
This small policy roundtable with leading experts will be held in Addis Ababa. The aim of the event is t o identify some clear policy lessons from the collective failure in Darfur. We also aim to generate some concrete policy options for internation...
20/07/2006 - 20/07/2006
High-level symposium on civilian roles in peacekeeping operations
This high-level symposium was organised in collaboration with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) to facilitate a debate on civilian roles in peacekeeping operations. In order to bring a wide range of international perspectives to the table, represent...
17/05/06 - 17/05/06
Enhancing capacities to protect civilians and build sustainable peace in Africa
This high-level symposium in Addis Ababa was part of a joint initiative to examine the opportunities and challenges for operationalising the Responsibility to Protect in Africa. ippr collaborated with Burundi’s Centre d’Alerte et de Prévention d...
16/03/2006 - 16/03/2006
European Security and Defence Policy - Rethinking Intervention
This high-level symposium addressed two specific questions: 1) When and where should European countries intervene forcefully in the internal affairs of other countries? 2) How should they intervene more effectively? There were presentations fr...
25/10/2005 - 25/10/2005
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