Responsibility to Protect Under International Law: a Case for Entrenchment in Treaty Law
Abstract
The concept of Responsibility to Protect can be attributed to the international community’s
failure in the 1990’sto respond to the genocide in Rwanda and later to prevent the atrocities in
Kosovo. As a result, the international community was forced not only to look at how to
prevent mass atrocities within states, but also how the international community should
respond to internal state conflicts. However, since its conception, the concept has not been
applied consistently, as it has been considered by some to be a violation of state sovereignty.
This paper will look at the concept of state sovereignty and its historical development over
the centuries. It will then critically examine the concept of Responsibility to Protect, and the
successful and failed application in Kenya and Syria respectively. The paper will then call for
the establishment of the concept in Treaty Law.
Publisher
University of Nairobi,