Sovereignty as a Cover for Impunity: The Responsibility to Protect Is Being Actively Eroded

The international Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is increasingly falling flat—while the principle of non-intervention is experiencing a resurgence. The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) is criticizing this development on the occasion of the UN General Assembly plenary session on “Responsibility to Protect and the Prevention of Genocide, War Crimes, Ethnic Cleansing, and Crimes Against Humanity.” The session will take place on July 6, 2026, and builds on the UN Secretary-General’s latest report (A/80/716).

“UN Secretary-General António Guterres explicitly states in his report that double standards, appeals to alleged exceptional circumstances, and weakened accountability mechanisms undermine precisely those safeguards that are intended to prevent atrocities. A growing group of states is further blocking these mechanisms by invoking state sovereignty,” criticizes Mirjam Kobold, STP’s expert on genocide prevention and the responsibility to protect.

For example, in 2024, a group of states led by China and Russia attempted to cut off all funding for UN investigations into human rights violations in Iran, North Korea, Ukraine, Belarus, Eritrea, Sudan, and Venezuela. The “Group of Friends in Defense of the UN Charter,” founded in 2021 and including China and Russia among its members, seeks to establish a fundamental primacy of national sovereignty over international oversight. Where this leads is currently evident in Sudan: Despite documented signs of genocide in Darfur and urgent warnings of a repeat in El-Obeid, North Kordofan, the Security Council has so far limited itself to a non-binding statement.

“Warnings alone do not save lives, however. The German government must therefore actively oppose, within the United Nations, the instrumentalization of the principle of sovereignty as a cover for impunity. Anyone who takes the responsibility to protect seriously cannot stand by and watch as it is actively undermined under the pretext of non-interference,” said Kobold.

In 2005, the international community committed itself to protecting populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. The Secretary-General’s report itself identifies where prevention efforts should begin: discrimination against minorities, hate speech, and restrictions on civil society’s scope of action are considered key early warning signs of impending atrocities. Minorities, indigenous communities, and diaspora organizations are often the first to feel the impact of these developments.

This press release was translated from German to English using AI. If you come across errors or ambiguities, please contact us at 65]G378o6DD6CA.