II. New paradigms for a new century: protection of civilians and the responsibility to protect

Chapter:

1. Responding to atrocities: the new geopolitics of intervention

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2012

Author(s):

Gareth Evans

International action to protect civilians in time of war has a long history, with legal foundations in the body of international humanitarian law that has been developed since the 19th century in successive Hague and Geneva conventions, especially as now enshrined in the 1949 Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols of 1977 (the latter extending the relevant protections to non-international armed conflicts).¹¹ International human rights law and refugee law, most of which originated in the years following World War II, also create obligations on states to protect civilians in multiple ways in both war and peacetime. Many international organizations have also long exercised significant civilian protection mandates, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the OHCHR, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).