This thesis explores the UN’s Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, specifically focusing on its implementation in South Sudan from 2005 to 2018. Promulgated in 2005, the R2P doctrine aimed to...Show moreThis thesis explores the UN’s Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, specifically focusing on its implementation in South Sudan from 2005 to 2018. Promulgated in 2005, the R2P doctrine aimed to prevent the occurrence of mass atrocity crimes, these being genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing. Most of the public debate about and literature on R2P has focused on the use of coercive measures by the international community in general and on potential military interventions for humanitarian purposes in particular. This thesis instead takes a more holistic approach to analysing R2P, discussing all three pillars of the doctrine. These are the state’s responsibility to protect (Pillar I); international assistance and capacity building (Pillar II); and a timely and decisive response by the international community in a situation where mass atrocities are imminent or are already being perpetrated (Pillar III). After exploring the literature on R2P and explaining the methodology that will be used, the thesis then explores the implementation of the doctrine before and during the South Sudanese Civil War. The thesis finds that the South Sudanese government were ineffective in adopting measures to protect its population from mass atrocities. Indeed, some policies actually increased the risk of such crimes while important government members and political elites were actively involved in the crimes that were perpetrated. It also finds that the international community’s assistance under Pillar II was generally well-intentioned but often misguided, while the timely and decisive response under Pillar III was hamstrung by an unwillingness to utilise or even consider all of the tools available.Show less
