R2P and H2O : Generating Water Security Through the Principle of Responsibility to Protect

Sammanfattning: This thesis strives to provide a new way of implementing the principle known as Responsibility to Protect (R2P). When traditionally associated with armed forces, this thesis will present the principle from a new angle, and in doing so illustrate its untapped potential as a tool for combating human suffering. The aim of this study is to normatively argue for R2P to also be applicable in a situation where water scarcity leads to such severe suffering that a state’s unwillingness or inability to manage the crisis puts people in a situation of despair equivalent with Crimes Against Humanity. The argumentation builds on a deductive inference where documents from the UN and the ICC lay the foundation for the premises. The study concludes that there exist circumstances where R2P could be invoked in the context of water scarcity, but advocates only the non-violent measures of the principle as responses.