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A man clears debris at a damaged residential building in a suburb of Kyiv, on Feb. 25.DANIEL LEAL/AFP/Getty Images

Tina J. Park is vice president of the NATO Association of Canada and executive director of the Canadian Centre for the Responsibility to Protect.

Over the course of a week, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s illegal and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine has managed to disturb the democracy-driven, postwar global order that has kept our world safe for more than 75 years – and he has done so in clear violation of international laws.

Under the tenets of international humanitarian law, parties to a conflict must distinguish between combatants and civilians at all times. But Russian missiles and bombs have struck homes, hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, including the Babi Yar Holocaust memorial in Kyiv – the site of multiple Nazi massacres, including the execution of more than 33,000 Jews in 1941.

These incidents have been captured and broadcast on social media, revealing for all the world the Kremlin’s apparent willingness to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity that target innocent Ukrainians. The invasion has uprooted the lives of so many Ukrainians, prompting more than 800,000 of them to flee to neighbouring countries. Many of the refugees are women and children, who are often most vulnerable in times of war. Mr. Putin’s aggression has also provoked many European countries to invest more in defence capabilities, including Germany, which is committing €100-billion to a special armed forces fund.

Showing remarkable strength, courage and resilience, many Ukrainians have remained to fight Mr. Putin’s war – which, it should be remembered, is not supported by all Russians, even though they will suffer the consequences of their president’s reckless roulette. But while the international response has primarily centred around military considerations, and while there has been much criticism of the rules-based order, finding a peaceful resolution must still be our top priority. Indeed, Mr. Putin’s apparent crimes necessitate that the world invokes our collective Responsibility to Protect (R2P), and holds him accountable.

R2P, an emerging norm in international relations, was adopted unanimously by 150 heads of state and government at the United Nations’ 2005 World Summit Outcome (WSO), thanks in part to the guiding leadership of the Canadian government. It establishes that when a state or a government is unable or unwilling to protect its population against four specific crimes – war crimes, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and genocide – the international community has the responsibility to step in. Rooted in the notion of sovereignty as a responsibility, the R2P doctrine offers a comprehensive set of tools to protect at-risk populations, to never again allow another Holocaust, or other atrocities such as the Rwandan genocide or the ongoing crisis in Syria.

R2P is not a disguise for humanitarian intervention or regime change. At its core, R2P reminds us that we all have a duty to uphold universal human rights, regardless of citizenship, ethnicity or a country’s NATO or EU membership. Mr. Putin has single-handedly inflicted damage on the core tenets of global governance based on sovereignty, liberal democracy and human rights. The language of R2P specifically refers to people, not citizens, because what is at stake transcends borders and boundaries. Troublingly, Mr. Putin has baselessly claimed that the Ukrainian government has committed “genocide” against Russian-speakers, a clear misuse and abuse of the term, and of R2P. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and a signatory to the R2P clauses in the 2005 WSO, Russia bears its share of responsibility for peace and security for humanity.

If Mr. Putin expected a polarized, confused and slow response to his invasion, we must prove him wrong. The European Union, NATO, the UN and countless UN member states have stepped up financially, economically, politically and militarily in defence of Ukraine. But under R2P, there is more that Canada can do to help the people of Ukraine beyond the realm of military intervention. That includes pushing for a ban on Russia’s special status and veto power on the United Nations’ Security Council; welcoming Ukrainian refugees and increasing funding for humanitarian aid; exerting pressure on Russia through the harshest sanctions so that the Kremlin cannot benefit from the current architecture of the global order; and fighting Russian disinformation and potential cyberattacks in partnership with private-sector actors. We also need to invest more to modernize our Canadian Armed Forces, and continue to capitalize on our global networks and champion global humanitarianism through multilateral institutions and civil societies.

Our ultimate objective is to advocate for an immediate ceasefire and convince Mr. Putin that he must stop now. There is no clear blueprint for how to do so, but implementing our collective R2P – which will require support and sacrifice from everyone, from politicians to journalists to ordinary citizens – at least offers us a framework and a way forward. It will not be easy. But it remains our most powerful tool.

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