Patrick Butchard

Edge Hill University · Department of Law & Criminology

This article builds upon previous research by the author into the mechanics and interpretation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, which sought to explain the apparent contradiction between the status of the prohibition as a non-derogable norm of jus cogens and its well-recognised ‘exceptions’. Turning to the role of state consent within the prohibi...

The legal nature of the Security Council's responsibility to maintain international peace and security and, by extension, its responsibility to protect, has been left relatively unexplored in academic literature. This paper seeks to reexamine the legal nature of the Security Council's primary responsibility, in order to determine whether the Counci...

In the 2005 World Summit Outcome, the international community accepted the emerging notion of the ‘responsibility to protect’. The world recognised a primary responsibility on States to protect its populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. Additionally, they recognised a ‘secondary’ responsibility on the i...

Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter, detailing the prohibition of the threat or use of force between states, is undoubtedly one of international law’s most fundamental norms. Yet, its phrasing is awkward and ‘unhappy’, as one Delegate described it during the drafting of the Charter at San Francisco in 1945. Over 70 years of debate has yet to...