Part III Important Themes in Armed Conflicts in 2013, 9 The responsibility to protect, and Syria

The twentieth century was marred by genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, most notably during the Holocaust, the killing fields of Cambodia, and the genocide in Rwanda and at Srebrenica. Thus far, the early years of the twenty-first century have not engendered much confidence in a change for the better, including when considering the continuing situation of armed conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic (hereafter, Syria). This chapter considers the United Nations (UN) principle of the ‘responsibility to protect’ (R2P). It adopts a thematic and contextual...