The Challenges of Adopting the Responsibility to Protect in the Russian/Ukraine War

Abstract

The study investigated the challenges of adopting the responsibility to protect in the Russian/Ukraine war. The objective of the study were to; examine how the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) has been applied in the context of the Russia–Ukraine war and the extent to which it has influenced international responses to the conflict; and identify the major political, legal, and institutional challenges that have constrained the effective implementation of R2P in the Russia–Ukraine war, particularly within the United Nations system. The theory adopted for the study was the Collective Security Theory propounded by Woodrow Wilson in the 1920s. The study employed a case study research design and applied secondary sources of data; data were sourced from academic books, journal articles, United Nations Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, particularly those relating to R2P and the Russia–Ukraine conflict, among others. The study found that R2P was applied in the Russia–Ukraine war mainly as a normative and diplomatic tool, reflected in UN General Assembly resolutions, humanitarian actions, and sanctions rhetoric rather than enforceable Security Council intervention. Its effectiveness was limited by Security Council paralysis, especially the veto power, which prevented binding collective action and reduced R2P largely to a declaratory framework. The study concluded that the Responsibility to Protect remains a major normative framework in modern international relations, yet its practical effectiveness in the Russia–Ukraine war has been markedly limited. While R2P has continued to influence diplomatic discourse, humanitarian action, and global condemnation of mass atrocities, it has not been converted into enforceable collective measures capable of stopping or preventing widespread violence. Ongoing divisions within the Security Council and geopolitical tensions have further weakened the United Nations’ ability to act decisively under its protection mandate. The study recommended the need for institutional reforms aimed at improving the enforcement capacity of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) by addressing the structural weaknesses of the United Nations Security Council. The use of veto power in situations involving mass atrocity crimes should be limited through voluntary restraint arrangements among permanent members, to reduce political obstruction that hinders civilian protection. Such reforms would enable the UN to respond more effectively and consistently to crises similar to the Russia–Ukraine war.