THE WHOLE WORLD IS IGNORING THIS

Box 2 - The Responsibility to Protect At the UN World Summit in September 2005, Heads of State and Government of all UN member States signed up to the 'Responsibility to Protect' (R2P). This concept recognises that States are primarily responsible for protecting their own populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. The international community should help them to exercise their responsibility and use peaceful means to promote protection, but if peaceful means are inadequate and national authorities are manifestly failing to protect their populations, collective action can be authorised by the UN Security Council. The UK will continue to promote a shared understanding of R2P and is committed to helping States build capacity to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity and to assisting those which are under stress before crises and conflicts break out. We will encourage and help States before crises and conflicts break, and work to ensure the R2P agreement is translated into a willingness to act speedily and appropriately. The UK will consider R2P concerns in our work across conflict, human rights and development, and will support the EU and UN to implement a cohesive approach. We are also looking for ways to improve the range of tools available to the international community before, during and after conflict to minimise the potential for mass atrocities to occur

UK Approach to Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict - GOV.UK