Accountability and Human Protection

Abstract

In recent years, the world’s most pressing conflicts have prompted a series of diverse international legal efforts to advance accountability for mass atrocities. Accountability and Human Protection argues that a transformation in the international accountability landscape is underway. This transformation is shaped both by the humanization of international law and new ways of operationalizing international law amid human protection crises. This book describes the consolidation of an international human protection order (IHPO), in which a diverse global community of practice has propelled new practices and configurations of accountability. Accountability and Human Protection shows how these actors, drawing on new practices and learning across conflicts, are activating accountability mechanisms at increasingly earlier phases of conflict escalation. These mechanisms are aimed at providing protection for civilians amid real-time crises, challenging traditional notions of post-war accountability and centring atrocities as its normative core. The book then traces the implementation of the IHPO across four conflicts: Syria, Myanmar, Ukraine, and Israel/Gaza. These conflicts mark new turning points through which a discernible transformation of accountability practices has emerged in recent years to protect populations. The book concludes with critical reflections on the implications of the IHPO for international justice, and the limits of accountability for protection in a moment of international political turmoil.