RtoP’s Second Pillar: the Responsibility to Assist in Theory and Practice in Solomon Islands

This paper explores the implementation of a regional capacity-building program in Solomon Islands, a state that experienced significant violence and political tension between 1998 and 2003. As Bellamy notes, the July 2003 intervention of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) is a useful and relevant case study for understanding the operationalization of Pillar II of RtoP, which we have termed the “Responsibility to Assist” (RtoA).1 While RAMSI has not consciously adopted RtoP language in its operations, the rationale for the intervention included humanitarian as well as wider regional security concerns.2 The mission’s emphasis on developing the state’s capacities in policing has supported the development of a human rights culture. RAMSI is thus illustrative of RtoP’s Pillar II as it demonstrates a regional intervention to enhance a state’s capacity to protect its population from mass atrocities.