La responsabilidad de proteger y las nuevas guerras: ¿una herramienta frente a los actores violentos no estatales?

Abstract

In recent decades, armed non-state actors have become increasingly important for international relations and international security. This is accompanied by a new category of armed conflicts, the new wars, which are characterized by a multitude of state, non-state and hybrid actors, their global character, and a decentralized shadow economy. In these new conflicts, the civilian population has become the primary target of armed violence. This poses major challenges to the international order and international law, as these have been developed primarily regarding states as monopolists on the use of force. The R2P, whose aim is to protect civilians from systematic and grave human rights violations, can be a helpful tool for the sustainable solution of these conflicts. However, for this to be possible, the application of the principle must be fundamentally redesigned. Instead of bombing campaigns from the air, an integral approach combining military and civilian capacities is needed. Interventions must be more of a policing nature and support local actors to enable sustainable reform of the affected states. The focus must be on (re-)establishing the rule of law and creating a legitimate and social economy. Such an approach, which puts human security at the center and combines bottom-up elements with international support, could also contribute to a long-term solution of the current armed conflict in Yemen, which currently represents one of the biggest humanitarian crises worldwide. However, this requires reconsiderations by the international actors involved in the conflict and a more proactive approach by the UN Security Council.