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Grappling with Double Manifest Failure: R2P and the Civilian Protection Conundrum

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Human Rights Protection in Global Politics

Part of the book series: Global Issues Series ((GLOISS))

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Abstract

Civilian protection is a vexing issue facing humanitarian practitioners and policy makers, particularly in settings where host states engage in or allow mass atrocity crimes to be perpetrated against their populations.2 International humanitarian law asserts a defense of the legal status and rights of civilians in situations of armed conflict. Individuals not actively involved in hostilities either by laying down their arms or owing to civilian status, sickness, injury, or detention shall be treated humanely in all circumstances, without ‘adverse distinction,’ and be protected from violence to life and person; hostage-taking; outrages upon personal dignity; and extrajudicial procedures or summary executions.3 International human rights law complements these provisions, emphasizing that host states bear a primary responsibility to protect their populations from violations of a wide range of universal rights, including crimes such as genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity (UNGA 2009: para. 3).

An expanded version of this chapter was published previously as Melissa Labonte (2012) ‘Whose Responsibility to Protect?: The Implications of Double Manifest Failure for Civilian Protection,’ International Journal of Human Rights 16, 982–1002. Reprinted by permission of the publisher (Taylor & Francis Ltd., http://www.tandfonline.com).

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Authors
  1. Melissa T. Labonte
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Glasgow, UK

    Kurt Mills (Senior Lecturer in International Human Rights) (Senior Lecturer in International Human Rights)

  2. University of Sussex, UK

    David Jason Karp (Lecturer in International Relations) (Lecturer in International Relations)

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© 2015 Melissa T. Labonte

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Labonte, M.T. (2015). Grappling with Double Manifest Failure: R2P and the Civilian Protection Conundrum. In: Mills, K., Karp, D.J. (eds) Human Rights Protection in Global Politics. Global Issues Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137463173_12

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