The Responsibility to Protect
A week has passed since Russia invaded Ukraine and the world has experienced a swift and radical paradigm shift overnight. Russia’s obsessive expansionism is reminiscent of the 15th and 18th century imperialistic tendencies of now peaceful European countries, and more recently of the 1974 invasion of Cyprus by Turkey. The United Nations has been on overdrive since the conflict began. Just like the pandemic, the magnitude and consequences of this war have altered the course of history, as Thomas L. Friedman wrote recently in the New York Times, “We Have Never Been Here Before”.
Russian imperialism seeks to remind everyone of the status and prestige the nation once had by brazenly invading an independent and sovereign European country. Meanwhile, Belarus has joined Russia in this attack as it renounces its non-nuclear status. This transnational alliance is ready for war right on European borders. Western response has so far been the imposition of strict sanctions, and for the first time in history, the European Union will finance military support for a country under attack. But will that be enough? What will it take to stop Putin from ravaging Ukraine and attacking its sovereignty? Will a more active military intervention akin to NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 (which was carried out without the approval by the UN Security Council) trigger a Third World War? Can this scenario be averted? The scenarios lying ahead are numerous.
Meanwhile, the international community needs to seriously engage in a debate about how to prevent, in the first place, as well as respond to blatant violations of international law and human rights, and affirm its responsibility to protect those under violent attack. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’s territorial integrity started as a one-man show, and it is now supported by like-minded Belarus. If the invasion continues, NATO members will need to decide on the way forward. Russia’s speed and threats of its nuclear capabilities has allowed it to cross borders and elicit a decelerated and cautious response from opposing powers. Autocrats aspiring to disrupt the balance of power in the same way elsewhere are taking note. But for the rest of the world, this war is another striking call to address denuclearization and uphold international refugee law in a coherent and consistent manner.
In the meantime, people are displaced and forcibly dislocated. Any type of dehumanizing hegemony results in manifold traumas of war and intergenerational pain. We have seen this happen before. Protracted conflicts have been taking place in Syria, Palestine, Yemen, Afghanistan, Congo, and Somalia for years, and attention to them fluctuates. As if they have become acceptable somehow- normalized. And although seen as more local conflicts, their effects echo globally. In 2020 alone, there were more than 70 million refugees and internally displaced people around the world. The suffering and forced displacements they cause have been consistent and a long-term consequence of aggression and war. Seeing how refugees are now fleeing Ukraine to neighboring countries such as Hungary, Poland, Moldova, Romania, is an unfortunate reminder that war can break out on our very doorstep unexpectedly as well.
Yet, the same Eastern European countries have been adamant in rejecting refugees from other conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and Africa, going so far as to break EU law in order to refuse taking in refugees as part of their mandatory quota scheme. It is notable how these same countries are now unreservedly opening their borders to provide much needed assistance to Ukrainians seeking refuge. Clearly, geography, skin color, nationality, even language matters during humanitarian crises. Even the media widely contributes to this appalling framing of refugees- the wanted, privileged refugees who are allowed to cross borders, and the invisible, undeserving ones.
Regional wars have always threatened humanity. But usually, the more distant the conflict, the less concerned we are with it. And Putin’s brutal attack of Ukrainian sovereignty has somehow accentuated discriminatory patterns of international attention to other humanitarian disasters. While diplomatic and political efforts are under way to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine, we all have a responsibility to protect those fleeing their countries and share their burden. Not just from Ukraine but from all war-torn regions. We have a collective duty to raise our voice and defend civilians under attack. As autocrats across the world wage senseless wars to destabilize global peace and security, we must not lose touch with our shared and defining humanity.
Like Hanna Arendt illustrates in her work ‘We Refugees’, no one wants to be forcefully displaced and uprooted, or called a ‘refugee’. Suffering that comes with war sees no color. There lies our moral responsibility to protect anyone fleeing invasion and violent persecution.
