Conceptualising Consistency: Coherence, Principles, and the Practice of Human Protection

Abstract

‘Consistency’ has a range of meanings in the context of human protection practice. This article conceptualises consistency – a basic premise for the legitimacy of norms, both procedurally as well as substantively. First, ‘consistency’ can refer to the coherence of the human protection framework. Second, consistency can refer to the degree to which protection responses adhere to international law and conform with international norms. Third, ‘consistency’ can mean the absence of variability and unevenness in the application of norms. I argue that consistency understood as coherence facilitates protection responses in line with international law, and, second, that a coherent protection framework encourages the even and invariable application of norms of protection by assigning responsibilities to individual protection agents. However, the international human protection regime remains incoherent: it is ambiguous and it is insufficiently integrated with other regimes and across institutions.