Responsibility to Protect

The Responsibility to Protect

The Responsibility to Protect

Introduction

Countries with civil and law disorders, have numerous uncontrollable issues, widespread genocide, massive war crimes, racial and ethnic discrimination and segregation on the rise, and unspeakable crimes against humanity being some of the major issues. If left unchecked, these issues can grow and spread over the whole country and subsequently affect over the whole world. The international community, therefore, must take responsibility to keep these issues in check and control. They have a responsibility to act and protect the humans in those countries and thereby maintain the rights of humans internationally.

International Human Rights

Human rights are preset ideas related to the treatment that each human rightfully deserves just because he is a human and needs to be treated in a humane way. The idea of rights has developed to quite an extent and has a powerful impact on world politics. After adopting the UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) in the year 1948, human rights were asserted internationally and as a result created hurdles for the sovereignty of the state and formed a framework for the demands, by the activists, of basic political and social modification (Schmitz, p.827).

The Responsibility to Protect

With practically millions of human at the mercy of consequences arising from civil wars, state repression, insurgencies and state collapse, it becomes increasing important for the international community to step in and 'intervene' to ensure protection of humans and their lives, because their own (national) states have failed to do likewise. The responsibility to protect comprises of the responsibility to react, the responsibility to prevent and the responsibility to rebuild (ICISS, p.130).

Discussion

The 'International Human Rights' Law.

This law is relates to the international law created to protect as well as promote the rights of human at the domestic, regional and global levels. Being an International Law, it comprises of agreements between states (treaties that are legally binding for the states) and laws derived from the normal customs and norms (customary international law). These laws can be enforced on international, regional or even domestic level. Nations signing the treaties are bound to respect these laws and to ensure that their law is in accordance with the international law. If and when domestic human right laws prove to be inefficient in preventing abuse towards humans, then, regional or international laws can be implemented in order to ensure safety and protection of human rights.

International Human Rights Law is linked with (but not the same as) the international 'humanitarian' law. They contain the norms that are same in nature like the norm to prevent torture on humans, but, are controlled by separate frameworks and operate in dissimilar context while regulating dissimilar relationships. Human rights laws are relates to an ordinary life context while on the other hand humanitarian laws relate to hostile states, usually involving armed conflict (Rene, p.8).

The R2P Initiative

R2P or the Responsibility to Protect is an initiative taken by the United Nations in the year 2005, highlighting the set of principles (norms) based ...