Abstract

We are former political practitioners who respectively played a role first in the conception of R2P (through the establishment of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty [ICISS]), and then in its adoption (by leading the Canadian advocacy and negotiation efforts at the 2005 UN World Summit in New York). Given our history with R2P, it will not surprise that we believe it is an important concept that can help resolve the disjunction between risks to the survival of many civilian populations and the incapacity of the present state-centric international system to protect against such risks. We also believe, however, that it is now urgent that the many items of unfinished business surrounding R2P be addressed, so that it truly becomes a set of principles ready for application in appropriate cases. We also believe that it is important to establish R2P as a working model for international action: to gain better political traction and more widespread implementation, so that R2P is not just an item of academic debate or administrative tinkering at UN headquarters.