The Duty to Protect and the Reform of the United Nations – A New Step in the Development of International Law? Peter Hilpold I. Introduction II. The Recourse to Force and the Development of the Theory of Humantarian Intervention III. The Call for a New Approach IV. The Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) V. The High-Level-Panel Report 1. Interventions as an Execution of the Duty to Protect 2. The Right to Self-Defence VI. The Annan Report VII. The Further Developments VIII. Conclusions I. Introduction The last years have been characterized by an intense debate on the role of the United Nations for the shaping of the international peace order. Probably never before in the history of this institution has world opin- ion been so divided between those who believe in the pivotal role of the United Nations for this task and those who have lost all hope of this or have even tried actively to sideline the organization. While the Cold War had for decades reduced the activities of this in- stitution to a minimum, providing at the same time a facile excuse for many its deficiencies, the thawing in East-West relations revealed new fault lines and introduced challenges which the United Nations were A. von Bogdandy and R. Wolfrum, (eds.), Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law, Volume 10, 2006, p. 35-69. © 2006 Koninklijke Brill N.V. Printed in The Netherlands.