Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 10/2011

R2P: Perceptions and Misperceptions

June 2011

The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect

Abstract

The core underlying idea that states have an obligation to protect men and women from the worst atrocities is well established. Basic human rights principles were adopted in the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and there is a substantial body of international human rights law. The United Nations adopted the Convention on Genocide in 1948.