Title: The Responsibility to Protect and International Justice
Abstract: In his address to the United Nations General Assembly in 2008, Pope Benedict XVI noted that while the “responsibility to protect has only recently been defined it was always present implicitly at the origins of the United Nations, and is now increasingly characteristic of its activity.”1 He noted further that “The principle of ‘responsibility to protect’ in ancient Roman law was the foundation of every action taken by those in governments with regard to the governed.”2 Nevertheless, only in this century has the norm of Responsibility to Protect (“R2P”) come to the forefront and gained international acceptance. In 2005, at the U.N. Summit, 150 world leaders recognized a responsibility to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.3 The primary responsibility to protect populations from such mass atrocities rests with the individual state as an aspect of sovereignty. When states fail in this responsibility, other states, through the United Nations are committed to “use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian, and other peaceful means” to protect threatened populations.4 If these means fail, the Security Council may authorize collective measures to deal with the situation.5 Resistance to the acceptance of R2P is primarily predicated upon concerns of state sovereignty. The key elements of sovereignty, as recognized since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, are legal equality of nations, autonomy and non-interference by other states.6 During the last century, however, the parameters of sovereignty have changed. Professor Louis Henkin, one of the great international law scholars of our time, has long urged that the “S” word, “Sovereignty”, be banished; that it be relegated to a shelf in history.7 Although at one time, sovereignty stood as a barrier to the recognition of human rights as a matter of international
Publication Year: 2011
Publication Date: 2011-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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