Responsibility to protect Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar - Obligation or possibility for the international community?

Abstract: The responsibility to protect is a controversial principle and has been ever since it was introduced by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty in 2001. Unanimously adopted by the United Nations member states in 2005 the principle seemed to be a new way of protecting humanitarian values. To protect the citizens of states when the states themselves are unwilling or unable to do so. This study explores the meaning and use of responsibility to protect in regard to the situation for Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar (also known as Burma) and if the principle consists obligations for the international community. The study addresses the exposed situation for Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and how it can be related to the principle. This have been proven to be problematic due to the fact that the responsibility to protect is soft-law and not legally binding for member states. The international community, through the UN, have been monitoring the situation for a long time and have called upon reactions. In order to use the principle in the situation for Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar the international community must take the monitoring one step further and agree on how to intervene. To investigate whether the responsibility to protect can be used in the situation is not a legal obligation for the international community even though it can be seen as a moral obligation. The principle’s applicability depends on if the international community decides to discuss it.