Discussion Evening - 26th June 2008, 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Military Humanitarianism and the Responsibility to Protect: Righting a Wrong?
Listen to the discussion evening podcast here...
‘The responsibility to protect’ (R2P) was first discussed in a report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, in 2001. It grew out of frustration with the experiences in Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s, and was unanimously accepted at the UN World Summit in September 2005.
The report states “Where a population is suffering serious harm, as a result of internal war, insurgency, repression or state failure, and the state in question is unwilling or unable to halt or avert it, the principle of non-intervention yields to international responsibility to protect”. This is a controversial recommendation as it challenges state sovereignty, the basis of world order and international relations.
Given recent events in Burma / Myanmar, the issue of R2P is particularly topical. Tonight’s discussion will examine the issues underlying R2P and the different perspectives on interventionism, examining how R2P relates to the fieldwork of humanitarian organisations like MSF.
Facilitator:
Marc DuBois, General Director, MSF UK
We will have a number of speakers, including:
Rony Brauman, Director of the MSF Foundation in Paris and former President of MSF France
Tim Kellow, John Bright Peace and Security Programmes Officer, United Nations Association of the UK
Gilbert Achcar, Professor of Development Studies and International Relations, SOAS