Events & Activities

8-12 JUNE 2010
European Science Foundation Conference on The Responsibility to Protect: From Principle to Practice. Linköping, Sweden, co-sponsored by GCR2P
Five years after its acceptance by the 2005 World Summit, it is time to consider the contribution that the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) has made and could make to the prevention of mass atrocities. The consensus among the Member States of the United Nations, as reflected in the General Assembly debate in the summer of 2009 is broad but not necessarily deep. While there is considerable general support for R2P along the three pillars suggested by the UN Secretary-General (responsibility of states to protect their own populations, assistance and capacity building and timely responses), fundamental questions remain. For instance: what does R2P add to the already existing obligations of states and to the substantial arsenal of instruments at the possession of the international community to prevent and respond to mass atrocities? Does R2P entail a risk of opening the door to external intervention? And how can R2P be operationalised and implemented in concrete circumstances? View the conference program.

15 APRIL 2010
The Inaugural Gareth Evans Annual Lecture delivered by Lord Chris Patten of Barnes
The Gareth Evans R2P Lecture Series has been created to honor the outstanding contribution of the Hon. Gareth Evans to the development and acceptance of the principle of the Responsibility to Protect, a norm that aspires to halt and prevent mass atrocities. The Series has been instituted by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect and the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies in recognition of his remarkable dedication to a very simple but very profound global maxim: never again genocide and mass atrocity. Each year, speakers will be invited to New York to lecture on a theme related to the Responsibility to Protect. The inaugural lecture was delivered by Lord Christopher Patten of Barnes, Chancellor of Oxford and Newcastle universities and former Governor of Hong Kong.

23 MARCH 2010
UN Early Warning and Responses to Mass Atrocities
The 2005 World Summit Agreement on the responsibility to protect (R2P) called for "support[ing] the United Nations in establishing an early warning capability" to inform timely and decisive action. A central element to the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General's plans to strengthen early warning is the creation of a joint office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide (SAPG) and the Special Adviser with a focus on R2P. The office would be linked to an interagency and interdepartmental mechanism that will consider policy options to be presented to the Secretary-General. To inform consideration of these proposals, the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect and the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect convened a panel of former senior UN officials, along with the Special Adviser with a focus on R2P, to reflect on how the UN has reacted to past warnings of mass atrocities. The discussion explored the following themes, role of the Secretary-General and the UN Secretariat, tools and measures for the prevention of mass atrocities, possibilities for expanding the mandate of the SAPG to include other atrocity crimes and characteristics for the joint office. Meeting Summary

20-22 NOVEMBER 2009
World Economic Forum 2009 Summit on the Global Agenda, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Each year, the World Economic Forum convenes Councils to explores current governance gaps related to a particular issue, and develops concrete proposals on how international cooperation could be improved. GCR2P Executive Director Dr. Monica Serrano served as a knowledge driver for the Council on Human Rights and Protection which focused on the implementation of the Responsibility to Protect. A summary of the Council's deliberations is included in the Global Council Agenda 2010 Reports. The issue was featured in a luncheon discussion at the annual Davos meeting of the World Economic Forum and will continue to be discussed at the May 2010 Global Redesign Summit in Doha, Qatar.

26 OCTOBER 2009
Reflections on the UN General Assembly debate on the Responsibility to Protect
The panel discussion convened by the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect and the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect reflected on the many achievements of the UN General Assembly (GA) debate, the perceptions about the debate and the way forward towards the implementation of the norm of responsibility to protect. The much anticipated debate on implementing the responsibility to protect was held on 23, 24 and 28 July. In one of the largest plenary debates of the General Assembly's 63rd session, 94 countries presented their positions on the responsibility to protect. Meeting Summary

25 SEPTEMBER 2009
Ministerial Round Table Discussion, The Responsibility to Protect – the next five years: agreeing on the road map
This round table discussion convened a group of ministers and senior government officials to discuss what they see as the five year road map for realizing the responsibility to protect. In opening their remarks, all participants agreed that there had been significant progress on the responsibility to protect in the past twelve months, most notably in the very widespread support for the Secretary General's report in the July 2009 General Assembly debate, and the adoption by consensus of the first resolution on R2P since the 2005 summit. This offered a solid footing for the essential – and overdue – step to implement the 2005 commitment. Meeting summary

FEBRUARY-APRIL 2009
Global Governance Seminar Series: "Whither the Responsibility to Protect?"
This semester-long lecture series, co-sponsored with the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, explored conceptual, institutional and political challenges to R2P and featured preeminent experts and scholars in this field including Alex Bellamy, Conor Foley, Gareth Evans, Ramesh Thakur, and Lawrence Woocher. More information.

26-27 FEBRUARY 2009
Regional Forum on Responsibility to Protect, Mexico City
This regional forum for Latin America and the Caribbean, co-sponsored by the Mexican Foreign Ministry, El Colegio de México, and the International Peace Institute the was the first of its kind following the release of the January 2009 report of the UN Secretary-General (UN SG) on the Responsibility to Protect. Government representatives from capitals, embassies and missions to the United Nations were joined by NGOs and academics from the region. Participants welcomed the opportunity to exchange views in a regional context on the responsibility to protect and the Secretary-General's report. The discussion highlighted that the principles of the responsibility to protect signified a substantial development in human rights, touched on challenges to the acceptance and practice of R2P, and provided input into how a debate of the General Assembly should go forward.Meeting Summary

18 FEBRUARY 2009
The Secretary-General's Report on the Responsibility to Protect: What Does It Ask States To Do? How Can Its Principles Be Advanced?
The Global Centre hosted this discussion, the first event held for all UN Member States following the release of the Secretary-General's report. Mr. Gareth Evans, the former foreign minister of Australia and current co-chairman of the Global Centre Advisory Board; H.E. Mr. Heraldo Muñoz, Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations presented the findings of the report, focusing on how it addresses the misconceptions on R2P and its recommendations for moving from principle to practice.

30 JANUARY 2009
Zimbabwe: What Can be Done, Who Must Act?
PANELISTS: Tawanda Mutasah, Director of Programs, Open Society Institute; Valerie de Campos Mello, Senior Political Affairs Officer, UN Department of Political Affairs; Frank Donaghue, Chief Executive Officer, Physicians for Human Rights; Peter Godwin, Zimbabwean journalist and author
The panelists gave a chilling account of the abuses committed by the regime of President Robert Mugabe against civilians and raised concerns about whether the political settlement reached between the parties would bring long-term solution. Speakers agreed that military intervention would not be an effective means of fulfilling the responsibility to protect in Zimbabwe, but proposed a range of other forceful measures. Meeting Summary

1 DECEMBER 2008
United Nations Security Council meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Conflict Prevention and Africa on the Responsibility to Protect.
The Global Centre was one of the presenters at this informal Council session chaired by South Africa. The Centre advised member states and the Security Council that a step change in their behaviour was required for early prevention of mass atrocities. The Security Council was urged to be more receptive and alert to early warning information, demonstrate willingness to respond to early warning signs of mass atrocity crimes, and willing to use measures in more innovative ways.

25 SEPTEMBER 2008
"Uniting to Support R2P: Preserving the Spirit of the 2005 Agreement."
Co-sponsored by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands during the opening of the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly. Featuring remarks form the Foreign Ministers of the Netherlands, Costa Rica and Bangladesh, this event brought together some of the strongest supporters of R2P to discuss how work together more effectively to defend and promote the norm and to ensure that any General Assembly debate does not result in a watering down of the historic 2005 consensus. Meeting Summary

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LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Report of the Secretary General: Early warning, assessment and the responsibility to protect . A/64/864, 14 July 2010

GCR2P Joint-Report on Sudan Referendum Calls for Urgent International Action, Renewing the Pledge: Reengaging the Guarantors to the Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

Open Letter to the Organization for the Security and Cooperation of Europe on the Situation in Kyrgyzstan, 30 June 2010

Open Letter to the United Nations Security Council on the situation in Kyrgyzstan, 24 June 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 >>