The U.N.’s “Responsibility to Protect”

By Alexandra Galus

Ali Galus is a 2023 Albany Law School graduate. She grew up in Buffalo, NY, and received Bachelor's degrees in Political Science and International Studies from SUNY Cortland.

While in law school, Ali was a member of the Government Law Review, serving as their Managing Editor for Research and Writing in her 3L year. She was also heavily involved in the Moot Court program and served as the Domenick L. Gabrielli Appellate Advocacy Competition Chair in her 3L year as well.

Ali has done several internships within the New York State government, including at the New York State Department of Health, the Office of the Attorney General, and the New York State Assembly. She will be pursuing a career in civil litigation, starting at Napierski, Vandenburgh, Napierski, and O’Connor this fall.

The official purpose of the United Nations is “[t]o maintain international peace and security; to achieve international cooperation in solving economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian problems and in promoting respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; [and] to be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in attaining these common ends.”  The United Nations (“UN”) places a strong focus on international peace and security, as the catalyst to the development of the UN was an international conflict.

However, despite that being one of the UN's basic principles, the organization hasn't always been successful in achieving that goal. In the seventy-seven years since the UN was founded, there have been several armed conflicts, wars, and genocides that have occurred on its watch. The UN has fundamentally restructured how to approach sustaining international peace and security as a result of some startling failures. Some of these failures were not the organization's fault directly. But they were still perceived as contributing to the catastrophes in some way.

What was the UN’s response to the disastrous failures? The introduction of the “Responsibility to Protect” Doctrine. To determine whether the "Responsibility to Protect" Doctrine was the correct response to address the UN’s earlier failures, this paper will examine the UN's most significant errors in carrying out its previous missions, as well as the adoption of the doctrine and its overall success.

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To read the paper, open HERE.

The Formation and Current State of the United Nations

By Jared La Porta

Jared La Porta, a 2015 graduate of Albany Law School, received his BA in History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2011, with concentrations in both the United States and Europe. While in law school, Jared interned for the New York State Defenders Association and the Albany County Public Defender’s Office.
His paper was prepared for Professor Bonventre's International Law of War and Crime Seminar.

On October 24, 1945, representatives from fifty-one nations ratified the Charter creating what President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had previously designated the “United Nations.” United Nations Day, as it came to be known, marked the culmination of decades of international efforts to create a single multinational organization.

The organization’s primary purpose would be to maintain and promote peace and security throughout the world. A major feat, the UN was the result of not only long-standing warfare and international strife, but also a lengthy process of trial and error that began nearly a century before its founding.

Throughout this process, a multitude of organizations and peace conferences shaped and reshaped the notion of international cooperation to ensure peace and humanity on a global scale. It was this historical context that marked the beginnings of what would become the United Nations.

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To read the paper, open HERE.