The Russian Federation has claimed that its unilateral intervention in Crimea represents a case for Responsibility to Protect. This study investigates how the international community reacts to and determines a case of Responsibility to Protect. Three criteria to justify use of Responsibility to Protect are created from an analysis of international deliberations in previous interventions in Côte d'Ivoire (2010), Libya (2011), and Syria (2011). The Russian Federation involvement in Kosovo is analyzed in order to better understand its stance regarding intervention in Crimea. Classification as Responsibility to Protect requires (1) the case must have confirmed human rights violations; (2) the state must demonstrate that the human rights violations are more important than the state's sovereignty; and, (3) the state must use the multilateral system in the United Nations Security Council. The Russian Federation's intervention in Crimea constitutes a case for Responsibility to Protect to a minimal extent as their case did not have confirmed human rights violations and did not intervene multilaterally through the United Nations Security Council. / Master of Arts / The Russian Federation has claimed that its unilateral intervention in Crimea represents a case for Responsibility to Protect. The study investigates how the international community reacts to and determines a case of Responsibility to protect. By analyzing the humanitarian intervention of Kosovo and the prior Responsibility to Protect cases of Côte d'Ivoire (2010), Libya (2011), and Syria (2011), three criteria are established to determine if use of Responsibility to Protect is appropriate. The case of Kosovo is analyzed since the Russian Federation used this to further justify its intervention in Crimea. Classification as Responsibility to Protect requires the following: (1) the case must have confirmed human rights violations; (2) the state must demonstrate that the human rights violations are more important than the state's right to rule over its own population; and, (3) the state must use the multilateral system in the United Nations Security Council. The Russian Federation's intervention in Crimea constitutes a case for Responsibility to Protect to a minimal extent only since its case did not have confirmed human rights violations and did not intervene multilaterally through the United Nations Security Council.

Maintaining the peace and security by regional arrangements in Africa (focusing on peace-keeping operations) Abstract The present thesis focuses on the issue of peace-keeping operations maintained by the regional and sub-regional organizations in Africa, namely African Union and ECOWAS. The main statement of the thesis is the following: The United Nations is unable to react effectively to threats to international peace and security, especially in cases of mass violations of human rights in intrastate conflicts, that have severe impact on particular region including refugee crisis or spreading the conflict to other states of the region. In the thesis, particular instruments of the above-mentioned international organizations, that create the framework for operations for maintaining peace and security in the region, are described. Attention is also paid to the relevant bodies of the African union and ECOWAS such as Peace and security council of the AU or African standby force. The thesis elaborates on problematic or controversial issues from international law perspective. In the first place, the concept of humanitarian intervention and related concept of responsibility to protect is underlined. It is demonstrated that African Union and ECOWAS have significant contribution to these concepts when implementing...