Norms of humanitarian intervention: Responsibility while Protecting (RwP) as a contestation of the Global South

Abstract

The norms of humanitarian intervention have gained notoriety after historical events of mass atrocities against civilians. In this context, the principle of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) emerged in 2001. Its tipping point was given through Resolution No. 1973 in 2011 - issued by the UN Security Council - which resulted in the intervention in Libya. In response to the excesses and failures that occurred during the implementation of the resolution, Brazil, in an initiative as a normative entrepreneur, proposed Responsibility while Protecting (RwP). In this sense, the present work aims to identify how this RwP normative proposal fits into the vast panorama of the evolution of the norms of humanitarian intervention, that is, in the international political and normative environment. RwP is an example of a normative attempt immersed in the international scope of the rules on the use of force, emphasizing its propositional character. Hence, from an analysis of the content of the speeches involved in the context of its creation, and considering the great debate about new or modified standards by countries in the world periphery, it was found that RwP was a contestative normative initiative of the Global South, complementary to humanitarian action.

Keywords

• norms of humanitarian intervention
• responsibility while protecting (rwp)
• responsibility to protect (r2p)
• normas de intervenção humanitária
• responsabilidade ao proteger (rwp)
• responsabilidade de proteger (r2p)