The Responsibility to Protect: Ending Mass Atrocity Crimes Once and for All [Hardcover]

Review of Gareth Evans' book The Responsibility to Protect

This clearly written book is a must-read if you believe in our common humanity and are interested in human rights and international affairs. The author takes the reader on a journey to the cutting edge of contemporary human-rights thinking and into the evolution of a new concept that, if realized, will save countless lives by preventing or ending mass atrocity crimes.

He lays out the case why governments share in a Responsibility to Protect (R2P), and how they all came to accept it - at least in principle - during the 2005 United Nations World Summit. This accomplishment is nothing short of miraculous given the relatively brief period of incubation during which the concept matured and managed to gain acceptance. It is all the more astounding since it adds an interpretation to the notion of national sovereignty, the most sacred of sacred cows behind which governments like to hide in order to shield themselves from accountability for actions and inaction alike.

In the past, turning a blind eye in the event of impending or ongoing mass atrocities seemed to be the default answer of the international community more often than not. This attitude was based, among other things, on a not so tacit consensus that sovereignty ultimately always trumps humanity. Now, however, by affirming their agreement with this new concept, the international community seems to be accepting that this solemn responsibility shifts from the national to the international plane in the event of a government's incapacity or unwillingness to meet its inherent responsibility to protect its own citizens.

The book is more than just the inside story, fascinating as it is, of how this all came about. In this sense it could only have been written by someone like Gareth Evans, who himself played a leading role in formulating and promoting the concept of the Responsibility to Protect. His book provides a comprehensive framework of strategies and tools to choose from before, during and after a crisis. It discusses a wide range of measures from the cooperative to the coercive that may be taken to enable or induce a government to change a situation.

Apart from being an excellent overview of the history, content and status of R2P and a veritable gold mine of information about the institutions and individuals involved, "The Responsibility to Protect" is a book of hope. It leaves the reader hopeful that R2P, while taking its due place in the history of ideas, will evolve into a strong international norm, despite the formidable obstacles its implementation will continue to encounter.

Hope also springs from the fact that a few determined individuals, dedicated to the cause of humanity and supported by a few sympathetic institutions, can have a huge impact and make an invaluable contribution to saving humankind from the insanity of repeating its most blood-soaked history. In this respect the book is a wake-up call and rallying cry for the rest of us to support those valiant efforts with all the means at our disposal.

Gareth Evans makes a gallant and generally successful effort to convince his readers that mass atrocities, genocide or ethnic cleansing can be stopped by intervention into and against the countries where they are happening or about to happen. While I disagree with many of his conclusions there is no question that he is sincere in thinking that crimes against humanity can be stopped or kept from starting and his commitment to bringing the story to the world must be applauded. He has long experience: foreign minister of Australia, high level UN official, CEO of the International Crisis Group. Evans thinks the nations of the world can act in concert when faced with mass slaughter and that they have already created the framework to do so, lacking only the political will and ability to see beyond their own narrow interests.

His--and everyone's--example is the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the unfortunate signature event in the history of humanitarian crises since the end of World War II. Every nation and international body that didn't intervene had their reasons although none of the reasons stand up against the fact of the massacre of 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu men, women and children during a three month rampage of blood lust. The United Nations had international troops already on the scene--and they were reporting to Kofi Annan, later Secretary General, at that time in charge of peacekeeping operations. The United States abdicated its role at the world's sole superpower--the memory of the disastrous mission to Somalia was too fresh in the minds of Bill Clinton and his advisers. Belgium, the former colonial power, turned its back on Rwanda.

Evans's premise is that such horrors can be halted before they start by a combination of political, legal, economic and diplomatic pressure and that military intervention would only be necessary if they fail. It involves international action before the killing starts in order to minimize horrors of mass atrocity and to keep military incursion as a last and rarely used resort. Again Rwanda is the example; only the ferocity and efficiency of the killing took anyone by surprise.

The difficulties in establishing a true responsibility to protect (R2P) citizens of a country no one's own are significant--I would argue they are overwhelming--and Evans doesn't try to diminish them. The first issue is state sovereignty. Evans thinks a system of limited sovereignty would be acceptable in the case of mass atrocity although there is little to support this idea, particularly when sovereignty and independence are among the only attributes that a state engaged in ethnic cleansing has. He thinks that the political leadership of countries in a position to intervene will do so even though they have refused in almost every case. Charges of neo-colonialism and neo-imperialism carry a great deal of weight when made by former colonies in Africa and Asia and have been effective in delaying initiatives particularly by their former colonial masters.

Evans writes well--he can even make the history of changes in UN resolutions sound interesting (or at least not dull)--and makes his arguments with every bit of moral and political persuasion he can muster which is quite a lot. But I disagree that the world has changed fundamentally in the past 25 years, that political leaders with myriad constituencies have become more altruistic and that we have decided to become our brother's keeper.

Many of the principals of the responsibility to protect seem derived from the Roman philosophical doctrine of jus ad bellum or just war. A key part of Catholic social teachings for centuries, the idea of just war has been accepted by most states and is ignored by just as many when it comes time to apply it.

This is an impassioned and beautifully written plea to our common humanity, one that Evans is particularly qualified to make.

Mass atrocity crimes have been part of human history for many, many years. After the experiences of the Second World War, the world had vowed never again. Unfortunately despite that pledge, it was not able to live up to it, with various mass atrocity crimes occurring around the world until just recently. Mass atrocity crimes such as the Rwandan genocide have shaken the world into action. One of the main blockages to intervention has been the uncertainty due to the notion of state sovereignty.

After the various experiences of mass atrocity crimes in recent times, the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, made this matter an issue at the 2000 Millenium meeting of the UN General Assembly. The cause has gained momentum since then.

Former Australian Foreign Minister and recently retired Chairman of the International Crisis Group, Gareth Evans, has also taken up the cause of the question of the responsibility to protect, or R2P as it is commonly known.

This book examines R2P in the context of intervening when the rule of law collapses and innocent people are left to the mercies of various factions and non-state armed actors; some of whom become extremely violent and hostile to various ethnic groups. The book also contains many personal glimpses at various key players in R2P, experiences in dealing with the steadfast determination of those people to see that something positive would emerge from these initiatives and the need to intervene in another state's sovereign territory in order to protect the innocent.

An extremely well written and researched book, which contains a great deal of background information on the subject and various leading personalities who worked to overcome what was sometimes perceived as something too hard. The book is well referenced and extremely useful to the student or researcher of international relations, international law, human security and the workings of the United Nations in this matter. Well done Gareth Evans, good on you...!