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Karp_-_The_Responsibility_to_Protect_Human_Rights_and_the_RtoP_-_GR2P_accepted.pdf (100.89 kB)

The responsibility to protect human rights and the RtoP: prospective and retrospective responsibility

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 22:28 authored by David KarpDavid Karp
This article argues that -- contrary to the way that it is often framed -- the first pillar of the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) is not best understood as an instantiation of a broader international responsibility to protect human rights. Firstly, the RtoP reverts to a discourse of powerful savours and passive victims, which runs against advocates' claim that the RtoP is a 'rights-based norm'. Secondly, although it distinguishes between prevention and response, the RtoP is still fundamentally a discussion of retrospective responsibility. The responsibility to protect human rights, by contrast, is importantly prospective. The article's separation of prospective/retrospective responsibility from the responsibility to prevent and to respond is an independent contribution, with broader significance beyond the RtoP context. Thirdly, the RtoP becomes activated when atrocity is building, imminent or underway; whereas the responsibility to protect human rights may be breached even without a clear causal link to harm.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Global Responsibility to Protect

ISSN

1875-9858

Publisher

Brill

Issue

2

Volume

7

Page range

142-166

Department affiliated with

  • International Relations Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2015-09-11

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2015-09-11

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2015-09-11

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