Policy Development

The "Responsibility to Protect" doctrine

At the World Leaders’ Summit in September 2005, States agreed that they had a responsibility to protect (R2P) civilians when another government is unable or unwilling to do so. The R2P framework establishes unprecedented international responsibilities to prevent and respond to situations where war crimes, genocide, ethnic cleansing or crimes against humanity are imminent or in progress. R2P rests on two basic premises: first, that State sovereignty implies responsibility for the protection of its citizens; and second, that the international community has a responsibility to protect civilians when a State is unwilling or unable to stop or prevent abuses inflicted as a result of internal war, insurgency, repression or State failure.

R2P comprises a continuum of measures for the international community ranging from prevention to rebuilding.  They are:

• The responsibility to prevent, such as addressing the root causes of conflict, is prioritised as the essential action;
• The responsibility to react, including economic sanctions, diplomatic efforts, international prosecutions or  military intervention (military intervention should be a last resort); and
• The responsibility to rebuild, including full assistance with recovery, reconstruction and reconciliation.

R2P emerged out of the work of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS).[1]  R2P was embraced at the United Nations’ (UN) World Summit in 2005 by a unanimous declaration of the UN General Assembly[2] and was unanimously reaffirmed in April 2006 by UN Security Council Resolution 1674: The Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict.[3] The significance of protection was most recently highlighted in the UN Secretary-General’s Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict[4] reinforcing the key themes of Security Council Resolutions 1674 and 1738 regarding civilian protection.[5]

The Responsibility to Protect framework is a vital step in ensuring the protection of civilians. Please read Austcare's Position Statement on R2P.

Read more about our Protect Now program.

For further information on R2P please see:

http://www.responsibilitytoprotect.org/
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=4521
http://www.un.org/largerfreedom/contents.htm

Peacekeeping and Protection are linked

Austcare contends that communal peace and prosperity - globally as well as regionally - is in Australia's best national interests, and that peacekeeping is an important means to helping reduce poverty, achieve the Millennium Development Goals, and ensure the attainment of human rights for the most vulnerable and marginalised. We believe this is realistically reactive in many instances, but could be proactive and pre-emptive as well, and more focussed on the basic human rights protection needs of civil communities.

We encourage the Australian Government to enhance Australia's commitment to peacekeeping, and believe that this will remain a significant responsibility for Australia in the foreseeable future, particularly in the Asia-Pacific. We recommend that Australia adopt, and advocates for, a broad definition of peacekeeping to including peacemaking, peace enforcement and peacebuilding. We consider that Australia's participation in peacekeeping can be more efficient and comprehensive than at present, and that Australia could demonstrate best practice and become a regional and global centre of excellence.

Amongst Austcare's key recommendations is that the Australian Government should do more to implement protection in peacekeeping operations. Protection should be a cross-cutting issue that is reflected in a consistent manner in Government policies and White Papers on foreign policy, defence and foreign aid. We encourage the all efforts to advance the effectiveness of humanitarian protection in peacekeeping operations and mainstream protection throughout their programs. 

While recognising Australian Government support for our Protect Now initiatives in Sudan and elsewhere, we also call on it to do all that it can to improve the human security situation in Darfur, Sudan, and to advocate for enhanced protection measures there and elsewhere, under the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine to which it is signatory.

Read our submission to the Senate.

Cluster Munitions

Austcare has developed a position statement on the use of Cluster Munitions – which you can read here.

Austcare has recently made two submissions to the Department of the Senate regarding the Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill 2006. These can be downloaded here:
 - 6 February 2007 submission
 - 12 April 2007 submission