The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect welcomes today’s announcement by the White House of a presidential directive on preventing atrocities. The decision of the Obama Administration to establish an inter- agency Atrocity Prevention Board is an important step that reflects the commitment of the government and the people of the United States to strengthen capacities to halt genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and ethnic cleansing. This decision is an important step in putting the responsibility to protect into practice and moving “never again” from rhetoric to reality. We hope that today’s announcement is seen by other governments as a call to action to take similar steps and thereby strengthen international efforts to prevent and halt the most shocking of crimes.

“The Global Centre applauds the directive of President Obama in establishing this board. We see its establishment as crucial in advancing the Responsibility to Protect agenda internationally, and in making the promise of ‘Never Again’ a reality. In a world where innocent civilians continue to be at risk of mass atrocity crimes, we believe that this decision will play an important role in preventing another Rwanda, Cambodia or Srebrenica,” said Simon Adams, Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect.