360 Journal of the Spanisch Institute for Strategic Studies N. 3 / 2014 happen, it would have to be developed through international practice and be accepted by states. We are therefore looking at a principle, a duty, which may become an international rule of law over time. According to Professor Díaz Barrado, it is “an idea-force of contemporary international society” and “a necessary component in the implementation of essential rules of international law”34. Many authors see it as an emerging rule of international law that is still in the making35. On this point, we share the view of Professor Gutiérrez Espada when he says that the concept of the responsibility to protect “has not been widely accepted as a new exception to the prohibition to use force in international relations”. As stated previously, one of the most controversial aspects is the principle of sovereign equality and the principle of non-interference. The responsibility to protect does not constitute a breach of the principle of sovereign equality; to the contrary, it affirms and strengthens it36. As a result of the changes and evolution of international society, new principles have emerged in the international legal order, and some of the existing ones are being interpreted and implemented differently, they are evolving; therefore, the concept of sovereignty has changed as new challenges have arisen37. The principles of international law are not static, but dynamic. According to the modern definition, sovereignty entails responsibilities and to protect in an international convention (…) and it is even less likely to emerge as a general principle of law; it has only one viable way to become a rule of international law: as an international custom”. Vid. AÑAÑOS MEZA, M.C.: “The ‘Responsibility to Protect’ in United Nations” op. op. cit., pag. 182. 34 Vid. DIAZ BARRADO, C.M.: “La responsabilidad de proteger en el derecho internacional contemporáneo…cit., pag. 3. 35 Vid. AÑAÑOS MEZA, M.C.: op. cit., pag. 181; EVANS, GARETH: “The responsibility to protect”, 2001: ending mass atrocity crimes once and for all”, Brookings Institution Press, 2008, pag. 31. 36 Díaz Barrado quotes the UN Secretary-General when he said that the “responsibility to protect is an ally of sovereignty not an adversary. It grows from the positive and affirmative notion of sovereignty as responsibility, rather than from the narrower idea of humanitarian intervention. By helping States to meet their core protection responsibilities, the responsibility to protect seeks to strengthen sovereignty, not weaken it”. Vid. DIAZ BARRADO, C.M.: op. cit., pag. 21. The Secretary-General, in his 2012 report, entitled “The responsibility to protect: Timely and Decisive Response” stressed this again when he said that “the responsibility to protect is an ally of sovereignty” given that when a state fully assumes its sovereign responsibility to protect, the international community does not need to take collective action to protect its populations”. 37 Vid. DIAZ BARRADO, C.M.: “La responsabilidad de proteger en el derecho internacional contemporáneo…cit., pag. 19 and 21; AÑAÑOS MEZA, M.C.: “The ‘Responsibility to Protect’ in United Nations’” op. op. cit., pag. 178.
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