Seventeen different organisations of Manipur while thanking United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, for his concern on the crisis in Manipur, have declared the need for protection of Manipur under the Responsibility to Protect – also known as R2P principle.
The UN High Commissioner, Volker Türk, had highlighted the Manipur Crisis in his media briefing on May 23, 2023 and again in his inaugural address of the 54th Session of Human Rights Council on September 11, 2023.
“Mr. Türk’s interventions on the Manipur crisis may be in line with the United Nations’ tenet of Responsibility to Protect – also known as R2P. The concept emerged in response to the failure of the international community to adequately respond to mass atrocities committed in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s. The International Committee on Intervention and State Sovereignty developed the concept of R2P during 2001″, a joint statement of the 17 organisation said.
The Responsibility to Protect was unanimously adopted in 2005 at the UN World Summit, the largest gathering of Heads of State and Government in history.
The seventeen organisations – All Manipur Nupi Marup (AMNM), All Manipur Tammi-Chingmi Nupi Marup (AMTCNM), All Manipur Women’s Social Reformation and Development Samaj (AMWSRDS), All Manipur Women’s Voluntary Association (AMAWOVA), Chanura Lamjinglen Kangleipak (CLK), Human Rights Alert (HRA), International Peace and Social Advancement (IPSA), Kangleipak Students’ Association (KSA), Leimarol Lamjingkon (LEIMAKON), Manipur Chanura Leishem Marup (MACHA LEIMA), Manipur International Youth Centre (MIYC), Manipuri Students’ Federation (MSF), Nupi Union for Peace and Integrity (NUPI), Poirei Leimarol Meira Paibi Apunba Manipur (PLMPAM), United People’s Front (UPF), and Women’s United Development Organisation Manipur (WUDOMAN) drew the attention of the people of Manipur to R2P norm that seeks to ensure that the international community never again fails to halt the mass atrocity crimes of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. R2P stipulates three pillars of responsibility:
Pillar One
Every state has the Responsibility to Protect its populations from four mass atrocity crimes: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.
Pillar Two
The wider international community has the responsibility to encourage and assist individual states in meeting that responsibility.
Pillar Three
If a state is manifestly failing to protect its populations, the international community must be prepared to take appropriate collective action, in a timely and decisive manner and in accordance with the UN Charter.
The seventeen organisations also asked on how the State Government and the Government of India responded to the continuing waves of ethnic cleansing between the Meitei and the Kuki communities, adding that the organisations of Manipur feel that the record of the said two governments leaves much to be desired.
The organization also urged to start an intensive dialogue with the State and Central authorities so that the lapses in the protection of the people are brought to the notice of the international authorities with impeccable compilation of facts and figures including the enveloping sense of loss of the people not excluding the fortunate ones whose families are intact.