Responsibility to Protect and Syria’s Displacement: Unprotected at Home and Abroad

Abstract The link between forced displacement and the responsibility to protect framework is multifaceted, involving the prevention and response to mass atrocity crimes that lead to displacement, as well as to mass displacement when it is itself a crime. Relying on desk reviews and semi-structured interviews with Syrian organisations leading documentation and justice efforts for Syria, this article examines such link, highlighting persistent international failures in prevention and protection (inaction), inadequate and politicised response (mis-action), and insufficient or ineffective efforts to facilitate safe and voluntary return (co-/under-action). It argues that these failures are chronic across the Levant, of which Syria is a part, and asks whether the criteria to assess the responsibility to protect and its stakeholders account for all complex direct and indirect processes of forced displacement. Ultimately, the article aims to clarify how inaccurate and limited understanding of these processes not only undermine the effectiveness of r2p but also risks turning actions motivated by its principles into push factors, potentially contributing to secondary or new (mass) displacement, particularly in areas and countries hosting the largest displaced population.