Himalayan Politics - Lahore
Logo

Himalayan Politics Journal

ISSN (print): 3080-1575
ISSN (online): 3079-4285

Promises and Pitfalls: The UN Genocide Convention and the Responsibility to Protect

  • Vaishnavi Singh/
  • Dr Ruchika S Rathi/
  • June 10, 2026
Keywords
United Nations (UN), UN Genocide Convention, Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, Genocide, Crimes against humanity
Abstract

This paper critically examines the efficacy of the United Nations (UN) Genocide Convention of 1948 and the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine in preventing and punishing genocide, and takes a critical look at both their conceptual brilliance and operational weaknesses. Despite a huge moral and symbolic authority within international law, the convention as well as the R2P doctrine have been rather ineffective in curbing genocidal violence and this study identifies the four core causes of this inefficiency – The evidentiary standard of proving specific intent (dolus specialis) of genocidal violence, the primacy of state sovereignty which complicates intervention, the absence of dedicated enforcement mechanisms and the politicization of genocide recognition. The paper argues that the failure to protect doesn’t lie in normative intent but instead in structural and systemic inabilities to translate normative aspirations into actual prevention and punishment. The study ultimately states, that although the United nations has developed a vigorous normative system of genocide prevention, its actualization and implementation potential continues to be severely limited because of a variety of reasons and concludes that closing the gap between normative ideals and successful operationalisation requires not only a strengthening of institutional provisions and enforcement mechanisms, but also a radical change in the political will and accountability of the UN member states.

How to cite

Singh, V., & Rathi, D. R. S. (2026). Promises and Pitfalls: The UN Genocide Convention and the Responsibility to Protect. Himalayan Politics Journal, 2(1). https://politics.thrip.org/website/journal/article/6a299dc21ff78/page

Retrieved from https://politics.thrip.org/website/journal/article/6a299dc21ff78/page

More citation formats
ACM SIG Proceedings
[1]Singh, V. and Rathi, D.R.S. 2026. Promises and Pitfalls: The UN Genocide Convention and the Responsibility to Protect. Himalayan Politics Journal. 2, 1 (June 2026).
ACS Nano
(1)Singh, V.; Rathi, D. R. S. Promises and Pitfalls: The UN Genocide Convention and the Responsibility to Protect. Himalayan Politics Journal 2026, 2 (1).
ABNT
SINGH, Vaishnavi; RATHI, Dr Ruchika S. Promises and Pitfalls: The UN Genocide Convention and the Responsibility to Protect. Himalayan Politics Journal, v. 2, n. 1, 10 June2026.
Chicago (author-date)

            

                    
Harvard (Cite Them Right)

            

                
Singh, V. and Rathi, D.R.S. (2026) “Promises and Pitfalls: The UN Genocide Convention and the Responsibility to Protect”, Himalayan Politics Journal, 2(1). Available at: https://politics.thrip.org/website/journal/article/6a299dc21ff78/page (Accessed: 13 June 2026).

            

                    
IEEE

            

                
[1]V. Singh and D. R. S. Rathi, “Promises and Pitfalls: The UN Genocide Convention and the Responsibility to Protect”, Himalayan Politics Journal, vol. 2, no. 1, June 2026, Accessed: June 13, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://politics.thrip.org/website/journal/article/6a299dc21ff78/page

            

                    
MLA

            

                
Singh, Vaishnavi, and Dr Ruchika S Rathi. “Promises and Pitfalls: The UN Genocide Convention and the Responsibility to Protect”. Himalayan Politics Journal, vols. 2, no. 1, June 2026, https://politics.thrip.org/website/journal/article/6a299dc21ff78/page.

            

                    
Turabian (full note bibliography)

            

                
Singh, Vaishnavi, and Dr Ruchika S Rathi. “Promises and Pitfalls: The UN Genocide Convention and the Responsibility to Protect”. Himalayan Politics Journal 2, no. 1 (June 10, 2026). Accessed June 13, 2026. https://politics.thrip.org/website/journal/article/6a299dc21ff78/page.

            

                    
Vancouver

            

                
1.Singh V, Rathi DRS. Promises and Pitfalls: The UN Genocide Convention and the Responsibility to Protect. Himalayan Politics Journal [Internet]. 2026 June 10 [cited 2026 June 13];2(1). Available from: https://politics.thrip.org/website/journal/article/6a299dc21ff78/page

            

                    
AMA

            

                
1.Singh V, Rathi DRS. Promises and Pitfalls: The UN Genocide Convention and the Responsibility to Protect. Himalayan Politics Journal. 2026;2(1). Accessed June 13, 2026. https://politics.thrip.org/website/journal/article/6a299dc21ff78/page

            

            






    Download citation
    Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)
    BibTeX



                        

                        

                                

                        

                    

                

            


            

                

    
Author(s):



    

            
            
        
        

        
            
Vaishnavi Singh

        
        Author
    

    
Research Scholar, Department of Political Science and International Relations, IIS University, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

    
India

    
            
    
    

    

            
            
        
        

        
            
Dr Ruchika S Rathi

        
        Author
    

    
Assistant Professor, IIS University, Jaipur, Rajasthan

    
India

    
    
    


    
Details:





    

        
        

            Type:
            Article
        

        

            Volume:
            2
        

        

            Issue:
            1
        

        

            Language:
            English
        

        

            Id:
            6a299dc21ff78
        

                        

            Published
            June 10, 2026
            
        

        
    


        

        

            Statistics
        

        

            

                
                

                        
    
                            
  • 
                                 23
                            
    • 
                            
  • 
                                 7
                            
    • 
                            
  • 
                                 4
                            
    • 
                        

                    

                
            

        

    

    
    

        
    

                    Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.