Christian Perspectives on R2P

Click here to download a slideshow on Churches, Peace and Protection.

We recognise that some churches refuse the use of force in all circumstances, and that this approach should be respected as an expression of Christian Responsibility. However, the World Council of Churches also points out that “just as individuals and communities in stable and affluent societies are able in emergencies to call on armed police to come to their aid when they experience unusual or extraordinary threats of violence, churches recognise that people in much more perilous circumstances should have the right to call for and have access to protection.”

The chances of my life are in your land; take me out of the hands of my haters, and of those who go after me. Psalms 31:15.

Why is it important to think about the Responsibility to Protect within my church community?

As members of the global Christian Community, we recognise the universality of human dignity, and our personal responsibilities to assist those in need.  It is important for you to consider for yourself, and as a group, how these principles should apply on the global scale, especially when the people most in need may be across oceans and beyond foreign borders.

“To act before a crisis is present requires a special sensitivity to and understanding of the conditions and needs of people, which in turn requires the active co-operation of civil society, and especially the faith communities which are rooted in the daily spiritual and physical realities of people. Faith communities are playing a major role in trust-building and trust finding processes in many contexts of crisis, such as truth and reconciliation commissions, trauma-healing centres, providing safe meeting places for adversarial groups, etc.” WCC statement, Feb 2006.

In developing countries, faith-based groups like NCCA-Christian World Service’s overseas partners are often the first source of assistance for vulnerable people in emergencies, and are best placed to provide on-the-ground support for prevention and rebuilding programs. They also play a vital role in alerting the international community to the threat of mass violence in their region. In developed nations like Australia, support for the doctrine of R2P by groups like CWS signals to our political leaders that protecting civilians from mass atrocities is a moral imperative.

It may be too late to answer the calls of those who perished in Cambodia, Rwanda, Kosovo and Sierra Leone.  But for those suffering extreme insecurity and imminent ethnic cleansing in Darfur, Sudan today, and victims of crimes against humanity in Burma right now, the responsibility to protect doctrine has come not a moment too soon.

Next: Current "R2P Situations"