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

that have been integrated to prevent and protect citizens from harm. The act of
omission is also well covered and conversely connected to Paragraph 139 of the World
Summit outcome document (2005), whereby acts of omission are clearly cited as
“manifestly failing to protect” showing yet again that international law is thoroughly
conversant with attributions of omissions and breaches in international law.
The breaches of conventions are well documented as mentioned in the Velasquez
Rodriguez case where it was concluded:
That a breach of convention “(…) is independent on whether the organ or
official has contravened provisions of internal law or overstepped the limits of
his authority, under international law a state is responsible for the acts of its
agents undertaken in their official capacity and for their omissions, even when
those agents act outside the sphere of their authority or violate internal law.”
The message is clear; the international courts will not tolerate violations or breaches of
international law, states are responsible for the protection of their citizens from harm.
So far this thesis has covered the attributions of officials and officers of government,
entities or organs of the state and delegations of authority from receiving and sending
states. The next section covers the conduct of persons or groups of persons who have
acted in accordance with the state. Article 8 covers the conduct directed or controlled
by a state; including the conduct of a person or group of persons, which can be
considered an act of a state under international law. When the person or group of
persons are acting on the instructions of or under the direction of, that state
attribution will be placed on the state that has that control.
WHAT FACTUAL RELATIONSHIPS MUST BE IN PLACE TO ATTRIBUTE
OBLIGATIONS TO THE STATE?
There must be in place a factual relationship between a person or persons and the
state for attribution to be placed on the state in question. The commentaries on
Article 8 of the draft articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful
Acts of a State, describe the attribution in detail. This section covers two areas: firstly,
the acts have taken place because the state has given instructions to an actor; secondly
persons have acted under the direction or control of the state. In light of these it does
not matter that the person is a civilian or private individual so long as they have acted
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