The shift of the African Union (AU) from a norm of non-interference to one of non-indifference has had significant consequences for how the continent’s leading organization engages in the prevention of and response to systematic violence against civilians. Overall, there have been reductions in the scale of lethal violence directed against civilians on the continent since 1997, although with troubling increases beginning in 2008 and sharply escalating after 2012. The impact should not be measured solely or even largely in relation to the specific mechanisms designed to prevent and respond to atrocities, defined herein as widespread and systematic violence against civilians.
This paper assesses the AU work’s on situations that threaten civilians with violence within the larger context of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and finds that AU mechanisms that specifically focus on the prevention of and response to atrocities can be further enhanced to improve protection outcomes.
