Originally published on the CGS blog on June 6, 2008.
My mother frequently calls it the middle child syndrome. My deep desire to resolve conflict between those around me and return to a state of blissful peace, she claims, comes from growing up as the only girl born between two rowdy boys. Whatever the cause, as I grew up that desire developed to include the rest of the world, no longer contained to just my family and friends. Since coming to GlobalSolutions.org my main task has to been to research and write a report on the Responsibility to Protect doctrine (R2P), accepted by the United Nations in 2005.
I must admit, before coming to GlobalSolutions.org I had never heard of R2P. My feelings towards catastrophic events like Darfur revolved more around my emotional reactions of horror and indignation than actual knowledge of the problems. I had no idea how to solve these enormous problems of genocide and state negligence; well, no realistic ideas anyways. After reading through the report, to me R2P seemed to take on that familiar role of a middle child, in a global context.
The issue, essentially, determines when international intervention is justified and deems what kind of intervention (economic, military, etc.) is appropriate. According to R2P, when a country neglects to protect its people from avoidable suffering, such as famine, genocide or rape, the international community has a moral responsibility to step in. Going back to my middle child analogy, imagine that Darfur is the misbehaving youngest child. The rest of the world, namely the United Nations, represents the oldest child who is responsible for keeping the younger child in line. If the older child neglects his duty, the younger child could just worsen, inflicting more pain and suffering with no end in sight. But, if the older child tries to change the younger child using force, then he is just seen as a big bully and resentment between the children grows. R2P ensures that the amount and type of intervention endorsed is equal to the problem. R2P must make sure that relations between the government of Darfur and the United Nations stay peaceful, but that the suffering of the citizens of Darfur is abated. A difficult role to be sure, but one that carries all the importance in the world. We must find a way to stop tragedies like Darfur and Rwanda from occurring, and R2P appears to be a very good plan to succeed.
