R2P at 15: Reflections of a Policymaker

Abstract

The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) was embraced at the World Summit 15 years ago, before nations and civil society had built the tools, knowledge and political endurance to implement its approach. Written by a policy researcher with R2P expertise who became a US diplomat involved in these issues, this piece reflects on the experience of the Obama administration’s efforts to bring US government focus to atrocity prevention. It considers what it got right, what it missed, and options for looking forward to address R2P in the decade ahead.