Holy See Underlines Global Duty to Protect

(July 31, 2009) The Holy See is underlining the global community's responsibility to protect life, preferably through non-violent means, when a state cannot do so for its own citizens. This was the message given Tuesday by the Holy See delegation to the U.N. plenary meeting of the General Assembly on the topic of "Implementing the Responsibility to Protect." The statement recalled a meeting of heads of State four years ago at the United Nations, where world leaders adopted the World Summit Outcome Document, affirming the "responsibility of all nations and the international community to protect people from the threat of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity." The Holy See discussed three priorities that were outlined by this document. First, governments were urged to use their authority with responsibility, to protect individuals and the population. Secondly, the document underlined the responsibility of the international community to "help states build the capacity" to protect their populations through providing financial and technical support. The third element of the document discussed the international community's responsibility to "take effective action when a state has failed to exercise properly its authority." Many times, it explained, the focus has been exclusively on using violence as an intervention. However, "mediation and dialogue has a greater ability to promote the responsibility to protect than military action," the Holy See stated and added that it is the necessity of countries to exercise their authority within the Security Council.