Where is R2P grounded in international law? Anne-Marie Judson A ...

duties to implement and enforce these duties through local jurisdiction, education and
military programmes, however it does not have a duty to build the capacity of other
states. This duty cannot be clarified in international customary law.
As previously discussed the state is responsible for its own actions in international law;
these actions include omissions and the omission to act. States are responsible only for
the duties that they have assumed, duties that they have chosen to adopt, to
implement, to ratify, to sign and to agree. Beyond these, the duties of the states are
limited by international norms and customary laws that apply to all states and are
recognized by the international community as custom and upheld by courts as legally
binding contracts. R2P reinforces and outlines these duties but it does not add to
them. It cannot be used to enforce the duties in international law; it only declares
them in a way that states can be reminded that their duty is to protect their citizens in
international law. Beyond this the duty to protect remains in the hands of the Security
Council and the United Nations to ensure that the maintenance of international peace
and security is being enforced. Only through the Security Council can enforcement
resolutions be written and only through the states can they be implemented.
Therefore the duty to prevent and protect remains with both the state and the
Security Council.
FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS
One question that remains to be answered is whether the ICCPR is an outdated
Covenant that breaches the terms of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.
The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969) states that a treaty is void if it
conflicts with a peremptory norm of general international law. 362 If it could be proven
that the ICCPR does conflict with an international customary norm of international
law the whole Convention could be repealed and civilian rights would be restored. 363
QUESTIONS ON THE LEGALITY OF BAHRAIN IN 2011
The problem of Bahrain in 2011 requires further research as military machinery
including tanks and military corps with arms were used against civilians to restore the
362 Article 53, Vienna convention on the law of treaties
363 I have chosen to leave this question for further research, as it deserves a lot more space than
can be given in this thesis.
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