A «responsibility» or «duty» to protect?: politics and the enforcement of international law

• Autores: Aidan Hehir
• Localización: Ragion pratica, ISSN 1720-2396, Nº. 48, 2017, págs. 25-42
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • In this article I argue that the enforcement of international law remains hamstrung by the constitutional competencies afforded to the Permanent Five members of the Security Council; so long as these powers remain, the enforcement of international human rights law will remain highly selective and inconsistent. Though the Responsibility to Protect has emerged as a widely heralded concept, its capacity to influence international politics is profoundly diminished by virtue of its recognition of the systemic status quo. I argue that so long as the Security Council has a right rather than a duty to protect individuals from mass atrocities, they will exercise politically motivated discretion, regardless of their rhetorical commitment to concepts like R2P.