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

done or are carried out in execution of or in conformity with any crime against peace,
or any war crime. The affirmation concluding the principles which declares
“complicity in the commission of a crime against peace, a war crime or a crime
against humanity is a crime under international law” is also considered customary
international law. 195
Certain Conventions are considered customary including the Convention on the nonapplicability
of statutory limitations to War crimes and Crimes against humanity
(1968) and the European Convention on the non-applicability of statutory limitations
to Crimes against Humanity and War crimes (1974). Both recognize that war crimes
and crimes against humanity are grave crimes in international law and stipulate that
no statutory limitations shall apply to war crimes as described in the Nuremberg
Tribunal (1945) or the Geneva Conventions (1949) nor to crimes against humanity
committed in times of war or in times of peace, even when these crimes do not
constitute a violation of the domestic law of the country in which they were
committed. 196
The Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the event of Armed Conflict and protocols
(1954), The Hague Conventions (1907) on the rules and customs of war and the Geneva
Conventions (1949) For Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in
Armed Forces in the Field (1949) and the Relative Treatment of Prisoners of War
(1949) as well as the Protection of Civilian Persons in a Time of War (1949 and their
additional protocols (1977) relating to the Victims of Non-international Armed
Conflict, are all considered customary international law. The Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) is also considered customary even though
there are only 141 parties signatory to the Convention.
Lastly the United Nations Charter and the Statute of the International Court of
Justice are both considered customary international law. In relation to state practice
some Conventions and Treaties with a high percentage of signatory states could also
be considered as customary law, including the Convention on the Rights of a Child with 193
state signatory parties or the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
195 Principle vii, see also the United Nations General Assembly, Resolution 95 (1), (1946)
196 See Convention on the Non-­‐applicability of Statutory Limitations to War crimes and Crimes
against humanity (1968)
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