If the UN Security Council decided on military action against a government that was committing large-scale atrocities against its own people, this should be limited to exceptional cases, a former leading diplomat told the Institute of European Affairs in Dublin yesterday.
Former Irish ambassador to the UN, Noel Dorr said clearer and more detailed guidelines should be laid down on the "responsibility to protect", which has been the subject of much debate in current discussions on UN reform. He said it would "not be easy" to get agreement on the issue among member states.
"It needs to be clear that this is not an attempt to establish some general 'right of intervention' which would be flatly contrary to past international practice and principles. What is at issue is, rather, the possibility of making more explicit the role of the Security Council, on behalf of the international community, in acting in certain defined circumstances and subject to certain specified conditions to prevent or end gross atrocities within a member state."
He added: "The exercise of the council's 'responsibility to protect' would have to be limited to exceptional cases where . . . large-scale atrocities are committed against a large number of people".
