Additional Resources for No More Rwanda’s: Protecting the Innocents
Responsibility to Protect, or R2P
The Responsibility to Protect populations from genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity is an international commitment by governments to prevent and react to grave crises, wherever they may occur. In 2005, world leaders agreed, for the first time, that states have a primary responsibility to protect their own populations and that the international community has a responsibility to act when these governments fail to protect the most vulnerable among us.
The Responsibility to Protect-Engaging Civil Society (R2PCS) project works to advance Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and to promote concrete policies to better enable governments, regional organizations and the U.N. to protect vulnerable populations.
In its efforts to help prevent conflict worldwide, the International Crisis Group has consistently drawn upon the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), the principle that sovereign states, and the international community as a whole, have a responsibility to protect civilians from mass atrocity crimes. Crisis Group President Gareth Evans served as co-chair of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty that first developed the R2P concept in 2001.
Testimony on “International Disaster Assistance: Policy Options” by Mark L. Schneider, Senior Vice President, International Crisis Group, to the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on International Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs and International Environmental Protection, June 17, 2008.
This report from the International Crisis Group, examines the deteriorating situation in this strategic region between North and South, where both members of the Government of National Unity, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the National Congress Party (NCP), have been dangerously engaged in ethnic polarization in advance of national elections scheduled for 2009. The kidnapping of nine Chinese oil workers in Southern Kordofan last week illustrates the volatility of the state.
From and International Experts Workshop 14-16 February 2007, Accra, Ghana
Organized by the Future of Peace Operations Program, The Henry L. Stimson Center, Copyright 2008
This report is based on a workshop, “Halting Widespread or Systematic Attacks on Civilians: Military Strategies and Operations Concepts,” held at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center in Ghana in 2007. This report identifies major themes and recommendations that emerged from the workshop. It focuses on the challenges faced by mission leaders when confronted with the threat of large-scale violence against civilians; tries to identify and to synthesize the major issues raised, especially the gaps that are likely to face future missions charged to protect civilians under imminent threat; and identifies potential strategies to address these challenges.
The ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe has shown the international community how poorly its tools for conflict prevention perform when a nation’s government threatens its own people. Well-meaning calls for action often reiterate familiar formulas, yet lack clarity, resources and an overall strategy that can demonstrate success. Three key areas need to be addressed so that the world is better able to prevent and halt potential violence escalation in Zimbabwe and elsewhere.
Address by Gareth Evans, President of International Crisis Group and Foreign Minister of Australia 1988-96, to New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, Wellington
This speech outlines seven lessons learned as to how better to prevent the outbreak, escalation and recurrence of deadly conflict and mass violence.
Peacekeeping vs. Military Training
At their most basic level, the laws of war promote and protect many of the values intrinsic to human life and dignity. Yet not all countries currently include law of war training as part of their regular military training or offer it in any form. To fill this knowledge gap, a collaborative international team convened by the United States
Institute of Peace undertook a worldwide survey of military law of war training programs and created the present resource manual. This manual is meant to serve not only as an information source but also as a catalyst for more countries to begin offering law of war training to their troops.
The U.S. Army Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute (PKSOI) was established in 2003 as an integral component of the Center for Strategic Leadership at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa. The Institute's charter and structure are designed to meet the future needs of the U.S. Army and the U.S. military across a broad range of peacekeeping and stability operations. In addition, PKSOI provides continuity with the body of knowledge developed from 1993-2003 by the U.S. Army Peacekeeping Institute (PKI).
The International Association of Peacekeeping Training Centres was founded in Canada on July 2, 1995, at the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre. In October 2005, the responsibility for the Secretariat was transferred to the Centre for UN Peacekeeping in New Delhi. The aim of the Association is to facilitate communication and exchange of information between various peacekeeping training centres and/or among people responsible for, and interested in, peacekeeping training. Peacekeeping trainers and educators use this information to avoid problems already encountered by others, promote well-tested practices, and provide information to those peacekeeping countries which lack their own training centres. It is hoped that this exchange of information will allow centres to minimize duplication in their efforts, and lead to further specialization and sharing of responsibilities. There are 185 member nations in the UN and several of them have women as integral members of their defense forces. Many have opened all fields to women, unlike the U.S. military who is still humming macho man tunes. The fact that the world's military is more and more assigned to peacekeeping as opposed to warmaking, the need for women as peacekeepers should be quite evident.
Reconciliation, Justice and The International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an independent, permanent court that tries persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern, namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The ICC is based on a treaty, joined by
108 countries.
A new casebook edited by William J. Durch, co-sponsored by the United States Institute of Peace and the Henry L. Stimson Center, provides expert analysis on six peace operations since 1999: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kosovo, East Timor, and Afghanistan. These case studies tell the trying stories of efforts to rebuild after war has destroyed infrastructure, lives, and trust in government. A lead-in chapter summarizes the state of the art in measuring mission success and the requirements of successful state-building. A concluding chapter summarizes lessons learned from the six cases and from more recent missions launched since the cases were commissioned. This report examines the state of affairs in Rwanda and Burundi, the impact of these countries on the region, the region's effect on them, and ways to advance political and economic participation and the rule of law.
Building on findings from her extensive field research on local practices of reintegration in northern Sierra Leone, and on the district hearings of this country's TRC, Shaw analyzes the contentious relationship among memory, healing, and reconciliation in these contrasting arenas and critically examines the purported therapeutic and conciliatory effects of TRCs.
As the US presidential campaign heats up, both political parties advocate new courses. On issues from the Iraq war to climate change, candidates are calling for change and a restoration of the US position in the world. One issue ripe for reassessment is the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is designed to prosecute those who commit the most egregious crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes.
July 10, 2008, Human Rights Watch
This 244-page report examines the ICC’s accomplishments and shortcomings since it began operations in 2003. The court was created to bring justice to the victims of gross human rights violations; so far the court has issued arrest warrants against suspects in four countries, though none have yet been tried.
West Point Classes Focus on War Ethics, by Rachel Martin, Morning Edition, May 3, 2007
Seniors at the United States Military Academy at West Point are winding up their last weeks of classes. Ethics have become an important component to the education cadets receive before heading out to their first assignments, many in Iraq or Afghanistan. "Winning the Peace" was developed three years ago as an interdisciplinary course, combining sociology, history, religion (Islam, in particular) and personal ethics. As the name suggests, it's meant to prepare soldiers for the complexities of the streets of Baghdad or the mountains of Afghanistan. A lot of the class is about posing ethical dilemmas that require cadets to go beyond standard manuals to come up with answers. Length – 05:09
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9972583
Shattered Dreams: The Struggle to Reconstruct Iraq, 55:00 minute A World of Possibilities radio program
While the White House seeks to persuade the American public that the "surge" is reducing violence and enabling Iraqis to create a self-governing democracy, Iraqi and international NGO's are struggling to make that goal a reality. We speak with aid workers, conflict mediators and development specialists as they encounter hostility playing midwife to a new democracy in the "cradle of civilization". Guests: Kasra Mofarah, Executive Coordinator NCCI, David Steele, Reconciliation Facilitator, United States Institute of Peace, Basma Al-Khateeb, IAA Project Manager for Women and Youth Programs, Ms. Hero Anwar and Nabil Al-Tikriti, Hero is the HR and Program Manager for REACH an Iraq NGO; Nabil is a US Institute of Peace Fellow, as well as an Assistant Professor for the University of Mary Washington. Produced with support from the Ford Foundation.
http://www.aworldofpossibilities.com/details.cfm?id=333
Hard Power / Soft Power: Peacebuilding at the Pentagon, 55:00 minute A World of Possibilities radio program
A landmark 2005 directive issued by the U.S. Defense Department for the first time placed post-conflict "reconstruction and stabilization" on the same level with the U.S. military's role as war-fighter. However, the implementation of this directive has led many to fear that in embracing "peacebuilding", the Pentagon is actually militarizing and commercializing it. Guests: Lisa Schirch, Professor of Peacebuilding, Eastern Mennonite University, Col. John Agoglia, Director of the U.S. Army's Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute (PKSOI) at Carlisle, PA, Lorelei Kelly, Policy Director for the Real Security Initiative, The White House Project, Eric Schwartz, Executive Director Connect US Fund. Produced with support from the Ford Foundation.
http://www.aworldofpossibilities.com/details.cfm?id=325
