An R2P Commission: A Comment on Richard Illingworth’s Proposal for Holding States Accountable to Their Responsibility to Protect

Abstract This Research Note comments on Richard Illingworth's proposal for promoting accountability under the Responsibility to Protect agreement. By drawing on an integrated account for evaluating the political legitimacy of States and the international institutional order, the Research Note discusses Illingworth's R2P Commission through the lens of an account that emphasizes the importance of considering sovereign equality when assessing institutional proposals. It makes two arguments. Firstly, Illingworth's independent Commission would have a high degree of political legitimacy as it would be created by the General Assembly and established to protect the pragmatic moral aim of human rights in Chapter I of the UN Charter. Secondly, as the political legitimacy of international institutions is also measured by their ability to continue foster and protect the pragmatic moral aim of global cooperation in Chapter I, serious backlash from States against the Commission's work would compromise its political legitimacy. Thus, to ensure that the independent R2P Commission does not drift away from States and people whose political legitimacy it is about, it ought to be complemented with a periodic review process that engages its stakeholders throughout its institutional lifetime.