Never Again is Again: Stand Up Against Genocide in Africa

The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) report was issued by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, with the support of the Government of Canada. The full pdf document can be found here. Essentially:

“[t]he Responsibility to protect populations from genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity is an international commitment by governments to prevent and react to grave crises, wherever they may occur. In 2005, world leaders agreed, for the first time, that states have a primary responsibility to protect their own populations and that the international community has a responsibility to act when these governments fail to protect the most vulnerable among us.”

The unanimous adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1674 on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflicts is the first official UNSC reference to R2P; it “Reaffirms the provisions of paragraphs 138 and 139 of the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document regarding the responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity”.

It is with this in mind that we believe the international community has a responsibility to protect the people of Darfur.

- sara