- States have the primary obligation to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing. This responsibility also includes prevention of these crimes, including incitement.
- The international community should, as appropriate, encourage and help States to exercise this responsibility.
- The international community should support the UN in establishing an early warning capability.
- The international community also has the responsibility to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means under Chapter VI and VIII of the UN Charter to help protect populations threatened by these crimes.
- When a state “manifestly fails” in its protection responsibilities, and peaceful means are inadequate, the international community must take stronger measures including Chapter VII measures under the UN Charter, including but not limited to the collective use of force authorized by the Security Council.
In addition, the Coalition supports a full spectrum of responsibility: from the responsibility to prevent, to react, and to rebuild. The Coalition believes the Responsibility to Protect requires the international community to recognize that conflict affects women and men differently. This is an essential first step in developing gendered responses to conflict, empowering women in the prevention and ending of conflicts, and the rebuilding of communities after conflict. Based on this common understanding of RtoP, Coalition Members agree to:
- Promote these RtoP principles among NGOs, governments, policy-makers and the public.
- Ensure that RtoP is restricted to genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, as articulated in the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document.
- Defend against RtoP being interpreted as a new version of military humanitarian intervention.
- Guard against the abuse of the norm by governments, regional organizations or international organizations.
Our People
Sapna Chhatpar Considine
Deputy Director
Sapna Chhatpar Considine is the Deputy Director of the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect. Ms. Considne started working on RtoP in 2006 under the World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy’s R2PCS project. Prior to this, Ms. Considine worked for a United States Congressman as the international affairs staffer where she worked to mobilize Congressional leaders against the war in Iraq and draw attention to a variety of human rights crises. She also worked at a civil rights law firm which specialized in class action employment discrimination law. A human rights advocate for the past 12 years, Ms. Considine holds a Master of International Affairs, focusing on Human Rights, from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from the American University in Washington, DC.
Megan Schmidt
Outreach Officer
Megan Schmidt is a Consultant with the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect. Prior to joining the Coalition in December 2011, Ms. Schmidt interned with ICRtoP from September 2010 to May 2011 and received a summer fellowship with the Secretariat through August 2011. She holds a Master of Arts in Human Rights and Genocide Studies from Kingston University-London and is in the process of completing a Master of Arts in Humanities and Social Thought at New York University. Ms. Schmidt has previously interned with the Kurdish Human Rights Project and received a Graduate Research Fellowship with the Wiener Library where she conducted a comparative study on the Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide.
Angela Patnode
Associate
Angela Patnode is the Program Associate at the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect. Ms. Patnode graduated in December 2009 from Manhattan College with a B.A. in Philosophy and International Studies, with a concentration on human rights. She began her career working on Third Committee issues [Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Affairs] for the Japanese Mission to the United Nations before moving to the Political Affairs department of the mission to monitor and conduct research on Security Council developments.
Matthew Redding
Social Media Coordinator & Blogger