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United Nations

Unfulfilled Promise: 20 Years of the Responsibility to Protect Policy

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

The 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) policy is a somber reminder of the world's continued failure to protect civilians from atrocities. The policy, inspired by the humanitarian crises in Bosnia and Rwanda, has been invoked nearly a hundred times in UN Security Council debates, but its words have often proven weightless, failing to summon states to action. The anniversary has shone a light on the policy's unfulfilled promise, with 122 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, a number that has tripled since 2005.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Responsibility to Protect policy, adopted in 2005, has been invoked nearly a hundred times in UN Security Council debates but has failed to prompt decisive action in many cases.
  • The number of forcibly displaced people worldwide has tripled since 2005, from 37 million to 122 million, according to the UN Refugee Agency's 2025 annual report.
  • Countries have often interpreted R2P as a responsibility to protect their allies and interests, rather than the principle of protecting civilians from atrocities.
  • The use of alternative facts, lies, and spin has become a common tactic among countries to justify actions that exacerbate humanitarian crises.
  • The Security Council's failure to act on R2P has been exacerbated by the use of vetoes by countries like Russia, China, and the US to protect their allies.
  • The R2P policy has led to a cultural shift in the way atrocities are observed, investigated, and documented, but has failed to prompt a meaningful response to protect civilians.

Statistics:

  • The number of forcibly displaced people worldwide has tripled since 2005, from 37 million to 122 million (UN Refugee Agency, 2025 annual report).
  • There have been 37 instances of invocation of R2P in SC debates since 2005 (source: UN security council meetings).
  • The Security Council has been paralyzed by vetoes, with Russia using its veto to protect Syria, China vetoing actions to rein in North Korea's nuclear program, and the US using its veto to protect Israel (Source: UNSC meetings).
  • Alternative facts, lies, and spin have been used to justify actions that exacerbate humanitarian crises (Source: Savita Pawnday, Global Center for R2P).
  • The number of UN investigations, observations, and documentation of atrocities has increased significantly since the adoption of R2P in 2005 (Source: UN Human Rights Council).

Sources:

  • United Nations Refugee Agency (2025 annual report).
  • António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, June 2023.
  • Lloyd Axworthy, former Canadian foreign minister, interview.
  • Savita Pawnday, executive director of the Global Center for the Responsibility to Protect, interview.
  • UN Security Council meetings ( source of R2P invocations).
  • UN Human Rights Council (source of increased observations, investigations, and documentation).
  • Allan Woods, Toronto Star (author of the original article).

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