Pakistan tells UNGA concept of 'Responsibility to Protect' paralyzed by 'inaction, selectivity & paralysis'

UNITED NATIONS, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Jul, 2026) Pakistan on Monday told the United Nations General Assembly that the 'Responsibility to Protect' (R2P), a global norm the UN adopted in 2005 to prevent mass atrocity crimes, has often been "obfuscated by inaction, denial, selectivity and paralysis."

"Occupiers are still shielded and their grave atrocities against besieged people struggling for their rights, still overlooked, lacking credible response from the international community," Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, said, while participating in a debate on the controversial doctrine of R2P.

(The concept of R2P, which was endorsed by the 193-member Assembly in 2005, rests upon three pillars: the responsibility of each State to protect its populations; the responsibility of the international community to assist States in protecting their populations; and the responsibility of the international community to protect when a State is manifestly failing to protect its populations.)

"Yet," the Pakistani envoy said, "over 20 years down the road, with an unprecedented high number of conflicts all over the world, the edifice of R2P stands on tenuous grounds.

"Our shared objective to protect fundamental human rights, and to prevent recurrence of mass atrocities is often obfuscated by inaction, denial, selectivity and paralysis," Ambassador Asim Ahmad added.

"Nowhere is this void more evident than in situations of prolonged conflict and foreign occupation, where atrocities have been committed with impunity, in full glare of international attention — No responsibility, no protection, no accountability. The promise of ‘Never Again’ is unfulfilled.

He said it was pertinent to recall that the 2005 document presented R2P as a "balance between individual responsibility of States and the collective responsibility of the international community.

<?php /*?> <?php */?>

"

"It is a dramatic reversal that those who were pushing to act even under controversial concepts like unilateral humanitarian intervention, at that time, are not willing today to fulfill the collective responsibility that was agreed in 2005."

In other instances, Ambassador Asim Ahmad pointed out efforts of national governments to protect their people and establish peace in their territories are undermined by political and economic pressures, interference, and support for rebel and terrorist groups.

"If R2P is to retain credibility as a pristine humanitarian doctrine, that would require consistency, and uniform non-selective application, in line with the UN Charter and international law".

That, he said, entails a comprehensive approach.

"Instead of reacting after a crisis has unfolded, we shall have to make sustained investment in prevention, early warning systems, peacekeeping and peacebuilding," the Pakistani envoy argued.

"The international community must do more to peacefully resolve long-running conflicts and major disputes on the agenda of the Security Council, in accordance with relevant UNSC resolutions and international legitimacy," he said.

"And," he said, "we shall have to unapologetically confront hate speech, xenophobia, Islamophobia and other grotesque ideologies that disrupt societies and breed discrimination and violence

"This remains the most realistic pathway to honour those who have fallen victim to atrocity crimes, to protect our future generations, and to restore our faith in multilateral action, justice and accountability".