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The responsibility to protect and the promise of protecting populations 17 years on Sian Fisher (24167769) PUREID: 499504921 Responsibility to Protect R2P state sovereignty humanitarian intervention ICISS United Nations Security Council United Nations General Assembly Security Council veto Syria Ukraine Kenya In an historic moment of unity, the Member States of the UN came together to agree the fundamentals of a concept that had the potential to protect populations at grave risk of harm from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. Disillusioned by the practice of humanitarian interventions that preceded it, the international community sought an alternative proposal of how assistance could be provided to those at risk without impinging on state sovereignty. The Responsibility to Protect was borne out of an international promise that states would firstly protect their own populations, but failing that, the international community will bear this responsibility. This promise is based upon the Three Pillars as stipulated in the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document, which will be examined in this thesis in terms of their applicability and tenacity. This thesis critically explores how traditional state sovereignty is to be balanced with the concept of the Responsibility to Protect. In doing so it will study the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly debates on the Responsibility to Protect to examine the commitment to this concept. It will assert that the Security Council is failing vulnerable populations through its reluctant and ineffective implementation of the Responsibility to Protect, particularly through the use of the current veto system. It will investigate the appetite for the Responsibility to Protect, and whether a proposed system, “Responsible Protection,” would offer an improved method of implementing the Responsibility to Protect. 2026-10-01T16:49:24Z Text Thesis 10.17034/32637621.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/The_responsibility_to_protect_and_the_promise_of_protecting_populations_17_years_on/32637621 All Rights Reserved