Preventing Atrocity Crimes in Myanmar: A Case Study in the Responsibility to Protect
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Abstract
The responsibility to protect is a norm which advances the idea that sovereignty is not just a right but also a responsibility, one derived from a state’s commitment to protect its populations from four core crimes. In this thesis I ask whether the norm is applicable to the protracted civil war in Myanmar. Although the human rights violations committed in the civil war can be considered war crimes or crimes against humanity, they have occurred at such low intensity that they do not trigger R2P if the norm is understood as a rallying cry to extinguish large-scale crimes. However, if understood as an enduring political agreement, an R2P approach would focus on capacity-building of the Myanmar government and the international community to prevent atrocity crimes from occurring in the first place. The success of R2P will depend largely on the political will of the leaders in Myanmar, ASEAN, and China.