The Aleppo Crisis and the Responsibility to Protect: the international community’s duty to intervene

Currently, the world is facing a horrendous humanitarian catastrophe. The egregious violations of human rights in Syria due to armed conflict between the government of Bashar Al-Assad, rebel groups and the so-called Islamic State have left at least 470,000 dead. Although the international community has tried to stop the atrocities through the United Nations, it has remained powerless. The Security Council, who holds primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, has been paralysed. China and Russia, permanent members of the Security Council, have exercised their right to veto. Thus, any possible intervention by the Security Council in Syria has been blocked. Looking for a legal basis to intervene in Syria, this paper will discuss the theory of the 'Responsibility not to Veto', which enables the Security Council to react and stop one of the most abominable wars in the world’s history.

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