An Assessment of the Responsibility of Protect Doctrine in Sudanese Darfur Crisis

The international community is witnessing the emergence of new horizons in international law. The substitution of the classical notion of the sovereignty by the new humanitarian one, and the emergence of “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine hold states and international community responsible to protect humans from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. All these efforts have been attempted with aim of prohibiting gross violation of human rights and guaranteeing the worth and dignity of humans. Sudanese Darfur crisis - which has not been resolved yet, despite the international associations’ interference - is one of the human tragedies which took place during the first decade of the 21st century, and led to the gross violation of human rights. The UN Security Council has referred to the “Responsibility to Protect” principle in its numerous resolutions concerning this calamity, but given that there are some misinterpretations about this doctrine, some scholars’ opinions about its failure in Darfur do not seem rational. This article tries to elucidate the aspects of the “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine by presenting a concise review of Darfur crisis, and studying international community’s perceptions of this doctrine in Darfur. It finally gives a realistic assessment of this doctrine’s effectiveness in the said calamity.