ABSTRACT
The contemporary international order has been based on principles of state sovereignty and non-intervention. The end of the Cold War coincided with an altered concept of security, by addressing human security as a requirement to state security. For the current humanitarian crisis in Syria, the involvement by the UN has been largely unsuccessful. The context of failing states has engendered the articulation of the principle of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). This chapter observes that with the inability of the UN to adequately address the Syrian humanitarian crisis, an examination is needed of the role for international organizations under R2P.
