The Asia-Pacific Centre for Responsibility to Protect (R2P Asia-Pacific)

Launched by Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, Edward Luck and former Foreign Minister of Canada, Lloyd Axworthy in Bangkok on 20 February 2008, The Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (APC-R2P) is an Associate of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect. Housed at the prestigious University of Queensland in Australia and with programs situated across the region, the Centre conducts research, policy work and outreach aimed at furthering acceptance of R2P within the Asia-Pacific Region. The Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect's mission is to advance the Responsibility to Protect principle within the Asia-Pacific Region and worldwide, and support the building of capacity to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

APC-R2P seeks to achieve this mission through complementary research and outreach initiatives: 

The Centre conducts research with the aim of improving understanding of the conceptual, political and practical challenges associated with R2P. To accomplish these aims the Centre has launched two major research programs: (1) Advancing the R2P in Southeast Asia, and (2) Preventing Genocide and Mass Atrocities.  The program on Advancing the R2P in Southeast Asia seeks to assist in generating new knowledge to build understanding and support for the Responsibility to Protect in Southeast Asia region, and to encourage the development of measures, strategies and institutions geared towards the realization of the Responsibility to Protect.  This entails research on national and regional attitudes towards R2P and related issues and regional and sub-regional mechanisms for implementing the principle, as well as the provision of research support to regional dialogue.   The Centre’s other core program on Preventing Genocide and Mass Atrocities aims to contribute to the reduction of genocide and mass atrocities by identifying the primary causes of the four atrocity crimes, appropriate measures for prevention and strategies for encouraging relevant actors (national governments, international institutions, regional organizations, and civil society organizations) to adopt those measures effectively and efficiently.  This involves research on the causes of genocide and mass atrocities, the problem of early warning and the repertoire of measures and institutional capacities needed for effective prevention. As part of its research activities, the Centre also administers the Australian government’s ‘Responsibility to Protect Fund’ which invests $2million in Australia and internationally in research and other work aimed at advancing the principle and building state capacity to protect.  

The Centre engages in outreach with the aim of strengthening consensus on the R2P by facilitating dialogue across the Asia Pacific region. Working through its affiliates, the Centre is facilitating a series of dialogues at the domestic sphere, focusing on constituency building that entails research, policy work, and outreach aimed at improving understanding of  R2P, creating knowledge about government policies and societal attitudes, and advancing understanding, discussion and acceptance of the principle. In addition to awareness raising and constituency building within countries, the Centre’s outreach also entails strengthening consensus about R2P by fostering regional dialogue on the subject.  This involves three sets of related initiatives: ‘Injecting’ the R2P into pre-existing processes; Utilizing pre-existing networks to develop sustained dialogue; and Developing ad hoc networks to foster dialogue. In partnership with associates in Canada, the Philippines and Indonesia, in 2009 APC-R2P spearheaded the initiative to create a study group on the Responsibility to Protect within the Council of Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP).  This study group explores the implications of this new norm for regional actors and organizations. The Study Group co-chairs will submit a Final Report to the CSCAP Steering Committee, which will reflect the members’ consensus on the role that the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and other regional mechanisms might be called upon to play in the implementation of the Responsibility to Protect. It is hoped that the CSCAP study group will provide policy recommendations regarding possible regional contributions to the global debate surrounding the implementation of R2P.  As part of its outreach activities, the Centre also provides support for a vibrant Student Coalition on the R2P, whose aim is to raise awareness and enhance support for R2P principles and objectives among university students in the Asia Pacific region.

Besides launching major policy-oriented research programs and developing region-specific outreach initiatives, APC-R2P edits a journal on the advancement and realization of R2P. Launched in 2009 and published by Martinus Nijhoff, Global Responsibility to Protect is the premier journal for the latest research on the R2P principle. It seeks insights and approaches from every region of the world that might contribute to understanding, operationalizing and applying R2P in practice.

Please click here to download more information.

For additional information or to sign up to the Centre’s quarterly newsletter, visit www.r2pasiapacific.org.

Key contacts:

Noel M. Morada, Executive Director & Philippine Program Coordinator: n.morada@uq.edu.au

Alex Bellamy, Acting Research Director, Editor-in-Chief, Global Responsibility to Protect: a.bellamy@uq.edu.au

Muhadi Sugiono, Director - Yogjakarta Office (Indonesia): msugiono@ugm.ac.id

Sarah Teitt, Outreach Director & China Program Leader: s.teitt@uq.edu.au

Sara Davies, Editor-in-Chief, Global Responsibility to Protect, R2P Book Series & Project Leader – Early Warning: sara.davies@griffith.edu.au

Marie Hobman, Centre Manager: m.hobman@uq.edu.au

Anne Pohlman, Program Leader - Responsibility to Protect in Southeast Asia: a.pohlman@uq.edu.au

Deborah Mayersen, Program Leader – Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities d.mayersen@uq.edu.au

Charles Hunt, Program Leader - Protection of Civilians charles.hunt@uq.edu.au

Jess Gifkins, Researcher & R2P Fund Officer j.gifkins@uq.edu.au

Stephen McLoughlin, Senior Researcher s.mcloughlin@uq.edu.au

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LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
GCR2P Occasional Paper: Unwilling and Unable: The Failed Response to the Atrocities in Darfur, by James Traub., 1 September 2010

Remarks before the Informal Interactive Dialogue of the General Assembly “Early Warning, Assessment and the Responsibility to Protect”, 20 August 2010

Upholding the Responsibility to Protect in Burma/Myanmar, 16 August 2010

The Responsibility to Protect and Kenya: Past Successes and Current Challenges, 13 August 2010


R2P IN THE NEWS
James Traub, It's Not Too Late to Save Kyrgyzstan, James Traub, Foreign Policy, 23 June 2010

Ken Frazer, UN must intervene in Kyrgyzstan bloodshed, Brisbane Times, 21 June 2010

Responsibility to Protect: a Natural Humanitarian Impulse, The Island, Online (Sri Lanka), 26 April 2010

"Remembering the Unforgettable", Inter Press Service New Agency, 8 April 2010

MORE R2P IN THE NEWS >>