Our Responsibility to Protect        
Anna Zatsepina is a masters student at the Norman Patterson school of International Affairs at Carleton University

As Canadians, we take great pride in our national heritage.  Throughout our relatively short history as a nation, Canada has been a standard bearer on a number of international fronts.  We, as a nation, have stood for the protection of the rights of all people, regardless of ethnicity, class, or location.  Our contributions to international peace and security have sparked groundbreaking initiatives of global peacekeeping and international justice such as the International Criminal Court and the Responsibility to Protect doctrine.

However, today we find ourselves shirking some of our most intrinsic values and international responsibilities.  This is especially evident in Canada’s response (or lack thereof) to the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan, which the United Nations has declared to be “the largest and most complex humanitarian problem on the globe.” Darfur has been embroiled in a vicious conflict since 2003.  Humanitarian agencies estimate that since then, between 250,000 and 400,000 people have been killed; 2.5 million innocent civilians have been forced from their homes and now survive in burgeoning IDP and refugee camps; and over 4.5 million men, women and children are completely dependent on international assistance for survival.

Humanitarian workers are confronting increasing threats and endless barriers to the delivery of the much-needed aid - paying one heavy price for our inaction.  Not since the Rwandan Genocide of 1994 (the one that reinvigorated our impassioned cries of “Never Again!”), have we witnessed such a calculated campaign of mass slaughter and displacement.  Yet, it is happening again and it is happening on our watch.  Meanwhile, the international community continues to stand on the sidelines, showing some benevolent gestures here and there as the violence, the rape, and the mass displacement continue unabated.

“Humanitarian agencies estimate that since 2003,
between 250,000 and 400,000 people have been killed;
2.5 million innocent civilians have been forced from their homes
and now survive in burgeoning IDP and refugee camps”

On July 31st of 2007, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution mandating the deployment of the largest peacekeeping force in history to the Darfur region.  This 26,000-strong mission would go a long way in providing security to the innocent victims of the conflict.  However, the desperate pleas from the UN for contributions of crucial military equipment from donor states are falling on deaf ears.  The members of the international community are unwilling to commit quite that much.  Yet, as the mission is delayed, the Sudanese Government – complicit in the genocidal violence towards its own civilians – is keenly manipulating the delays and undermining the mission. 

Immediate action is critical.  To delay any longer will significantly compromise the effectiveness of the operation and abandon the people of Darfur in their greatest time of need. It is absolutely critical that Canada scales up its contributions and wields its diplomatic leverage to galvanize the international community into swift and concerted action, lobbying those governments closest to Sudan (ie. China), and calling them to apply greater pressure on Khartoum to cease its obstructions.  This is not only consistent with the core values of our nation, but also with our Responsibility to Protect – a Canadian-championed and globally endorsed mandate. -R