@The Library

The Responsibility to Protect,  R2P, as it is known, says that when human populations suffer from gross violations of human rights - such as genocide or ethnic cleansing - and the home government either can't or won't do anything about it, the international community must step in to protect the people.

First presented by the then U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, R2P became international law in 2005. However, some U.N. Member States oppose the legislation, which they see as a pretext for strong nations to infringe upon the sovereignty of the weak. Moreover, lawyers have questioned whether there is a basis in international law for such an infringement of national sovereignty.

Join us as Frederic Eckhard, chief spokesperson for Kofi Annan from 1997 to 2005, tells us how R2P came to be and how it is being applied today.                      

About Frederic Eckhard

Frederic Eckhard was chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan from 1997 to 2005. He retired in June 2005 and has been living in France since September of that year. His book on the life of Kofi Annan was released, in French, in May 2009.