1. Responsibility to Protect in Southeast Asia: Enlarging Space for Civil Society
- Author:
- Pavin Chachavalpongpun
- Publication Date:
- 06-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
- Abstract:
- The concept of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is relatively new to many Southeast Asians, who have traditionally relied on the state for security and therefore faced a sense of hopelessness when such protection was lacking. While the state represented the only institution ensuring human security for the masses in the past, civil society organisations (CSOs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have today emerged as indispensable non-state actors campaigning for humanitarian interventions in situations where the state has failed in the provision of human security. Indeed, CSOs and NGOs are playing crucial roles in advocating and championing the cause of R2P despite encountering extensive obstacles, which range from an overwhelming sovereignty- conscious mentality, and an exploitation of cultural pretexts such as Asian values on the part of the state for a justification of its apathetic attitude toward R2P, to a lack of awareness among the people about the significance of R2P to their own security.
- Topic:
- Security, Human Rights, Non-Governmental Organization, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Southeast Asia