Role of the Principle of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in Preventing Mass Atrocities: A Case Study of the Ituri Province, Eastern DRC

The general objective of the thesis was to determine the role of the principle of responsibility to protect in preventing mass atrocities using a case study of the Ituri Province, Eastern DRC. The research was guided by three specific objectives and they included understanding the application of the principle of Responsibility to Protect (R2P), to determine the role of R2P and to review the mass atrocities situation where the principle of R2P was applied by using an empirical case study of Ituri, eastern DRC. The thesis focused on the application of R2P in eastern DRC. Its geographical scope was Ituri province in north eastern DRC, which best reflected the current R2P debates in the presence of extensive human rights violations. Temporally, the thesis concentrated on intervention measures in Ituri under the R2P doctrine between 2013 and 2020.

The research was a descriptive case study of the situation in Ituri. The research relied on secondary data and observations based on relevant literature regarding conflict management and the role of R2P in preventing mass atrocities. Considering that the research was mainly explanatory in nature, the researcher was of the opinion that it is possible to draw conclusions without employing complicated statistical tools that could compromise the presentation of research findings. The research analysed mainly qualitative secondary data and used a situational analysis of various actors in order to highlight challenges of operationalizing the concept in such complex conflict situations as the one in Eastern DRC. Data analysis was employed to offer insight into the research questions and endeavours to meet the set objectives.

The research concluded that R2P is an idea that can produce various responses. As the case of Ituri shows, this idea can be used to add lucidity to the responsibility of different actors and to focus on the security of citizens from decimation, violations against humanity, and mass atrocities. It is a political tool with huge potential to mobilize support to guarantee that human rights are secured when they are mostly at risk. The Responsibility to Protect is expected to stop gross human rights violations and mass atrocities, and revamp and recreate social order in the wake of such crimes.

The thesis research recommends that policymakers and heads of State to civil society individuals, that states have the responsibility to protect their residents, and that the international community has the responsibility to mediate in some way or another when states neglect to do as such. The international community has a responsibility to urge and help states to protect their population from extensive human rights violations and mass atrocities. Various steps could assist with breaking the pattern of violence in Ituri and prevent outside interference. The government should continue negotiations with those civilian armies in Ituri that have effectively communicated ability to give up under the right conditions. It ought to likewise seek after a discourse with different state armies associated with the Ituri violence to seek after their retirement. To arrive at a wide agreement on demilitarization techniques (remembering for the issue of reprieve), the government should uphold the intervention endeavours of Ituri representatives’ meetings in the National Assembly.