<P> The norm of the R2P was borne out of the international community 's failure to respond to tragedies such as the Rwandan Genocide in 1994 and the Srebrenica massacre in 1995 . Kofi Annan , who was Assistant Secretary - General at the UN Department for Peacekeeping Operations during the Rwandan genocide , realized the international community 's failure to respond . In the wake of the Kosovo intervention , 1999 , Annan insisted that traditional notions of sovereignty had been redefined : `` States are now widely understood to be instruments at the service of their peoples '' , he said , while U.S. President Bill Clinton cited human rights concerns in 46 % of the hundreds of remarks that he made justifying intervention in Kosovo . In 2000 , and in his capacity as UN Secretary - General , Annan wrote the report `` We the Peoples '' on the role of the United Nations in the 21st Century , and in this report he posed the following question : `` if humanitarian intervention is , indeed , an unacceptable assault on sovereignty , how should we respond to a Rwanda , to a Srebrenica -- to gross and systematic violations of human rights that offend every precept of our common humanity ? '' </P>
<P> The norm of the R2P was borne out of the international community 's failure to respond to tragedies such as the Rwandan Genocide in 1994 and the Srebrenica massacre in 1995 . Kofi Annan , who was Assistant Secretary - General at the UN Department for Peacekeeping Operations during the Rwandan genocide , realized the international community 's failure to respond . In the wake of the Kosovo intervention , 1999 , Annan insisted that traditional notions of sovereignty had been redefined : `` States are now widely understood to be instruments at the service of their peoples '' , he said , while U.S. President Bill Clinton cited human rights concerns in 46 % of the hundreds of remarks that he made justifying intervention in Kosovo . In 2000 , and in his capacity as UN Secretary - General , Annan wrote the report `` We the Peoples '' on the role of the United Nations in the 21st Century , and in this report he posed the following question : `` if humanitarian intervention is , indeed , an unacceptable assault on sovereignty , how should we respond to a Rwanda , to a Srebrenica -- to gross and systematic violations of human rights that offend every precept of our common humanity ? '' </P>
who argued that it was the role of governments to protect individual rights
who argued that it was the role of governments to protect individual rights
Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan