responsibility to protect

Known as R2P, it was adopted by the UN General Assembly in paragraphs 138 and 139 of the 2005 World Summit Outcome. It has three pillars: (1) each State's responsibility to protect its population from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity; (2) the international community's duty to assist States in meeting that responsibility; and (3) when a State manifestly fails, the international community's responsibility to take timely and decisive collective action, through the Security Council under the UN Charter.

R2P recasts sovereignty as responsibility, but it is a political commitment, not a binding treaty rule, and it does not permit unilateral military intervention outside the Charter. Its use in Libya (Security Council Resolution 1973, 2011) remains controversial. India accepts the first two pillars but is cautious about the third.

Example

Under the third pillar of the responsibility to protect, military action against the regime required authorisation by the Security Council.

In Indian law

• 2005 World Summit Outcome, UN General Assembly Resolution 60/1, paragraphs 138–139
• Chapter VII, Charter of the United Nations

See also

sovereignty · genocide · state responsibility · self-determination

Read more in the study notes

• Intergenerational equity and the public trust doctrine (Environmental Law)
• Sustainable development and the Stockholm, Rio and Johannesburg Declarations (Environmental Law)
• Environment and Human Rights (Law of Intellectual Property Rights, Human Rights and Environment)
• Stockholm, Brundtland, Rio, Johannesburg and the SDGs (Law of Intellectual Property Rights, Human Rights and Environment)