Africa’s Engagement with the Responsibility to Protect in the Twenty-First Century

The atrocities in Rwanda and Bosnia convinced the international community that a workable framework for the protection of civilians was necessary. In this framework, the World Summit Outcome Document from 2005 embraced the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) doctrine. Since its implementation, the RtoP has sparked passionate debate among researchers, authorities, international leaders, and even academics. Despite this ongoing argument, the RtoP has been approved in a few armed conflicts and mass murders in Africa, each of which has sparked new controversy. The purpose of this study is to revisit and consider the new and contentious issues that have plagued the RtoP conversation since its initial litmus test in Libya in an effort to identify the issues that have impeded with its institutionalization, consolidation, and mobilization.