The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect welcomes the appointment today of Mr. Adama Dieng to the position of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide.

Dr. Simon Adams, the Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, noted, “the prevention of genocide represents the essence of the United Nations’ promise to humanity. Mr. Dieng’s experience in holding accountable those responsible for Rwanda’s horrors, and his deep commitment to international justice, leave him well-placed to carry out this important mandate on behalf of the Secretary-General. We welcome his appointment.”

Mr. Dieng, a Senegalese national, has a long history of working on genocide prevention and human rights within the United Nations and civil society. He is currently serving his third term as the Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. He has also served as the United Nations Independent Expert for Haiti and the Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General to Malawi in addition to holding the position of Secretary-General of the International Commission of Jurists.

The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect has worked closely with the current Special Adviser, Dr. Francis Deng, during his mandate. Dr. Deng has been an indefatigable defender of all those who face the threat of genocide and other mass atrocity crimes. He has made a unique contribution to our understanding of prevention and of “sovereignty as responsibility.” We wish him all the best

We look forward to working with Mr. Dieng to fulfill the Secretary-General’s second term priority of strengthening preventive efforts through advancing the international commitment to the Responsibility to Protect populations from mass atrocity crimes, including genocide.