2015•02•02

On Wednesday, January 28th 2015, Dr. Stelios Stavridis gave a seminar on ¨The Impact of R2P on Sovereignty” at UNU-GCM. Dr. Stavridis traced the emergence of the principle of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and how, since the mid-2000s, it has been challenging the 1945 UN principles of national sovereignty and non-interference in domestic affairs, as well as the inviolability of borders. His seminar offered a preliminary assessment of the application of R2P date, taking the recent and current conflicts in Libya and Syria as illustrations. In discussing the critical role of the UN Security Council in putting R2P into effect, Dr. Stavridis discussed the impact of the veto and concluded that certain states which are “more equal” than others at the UN level bear greater R2P.  He posed the question of whether R2P is a right or a duty, opening a fruitful debate for all present.