To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), a ministerial-level meeting titled “The Responsibility to Protect at 20: Reaffirming Our Collective Commitment to Prevent Atrocity Crimes” was held on 23 September on the sidelines of the opening of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly. The event was convened by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect and the Permanent Missions of Guatemala, Luxembourg and Morocco to the UN, with co-sponsorship from the Permanent Missions of Australia and Sierra Leone. During this milestone year, the annual high-level meeting on the Responsibility to Protect brought together ministers, senior officials and key stakeholders to reflect on two decades of the norm’s evolution, assess its impact in preventing and responding to atrocity crimes and chart a path forward for strengthening implementation.

The discussion focused on best practices, lessons learned, emerging challenges and the role of regional and international mechanisms, as well as of civil society, in reinforcing atrocity prevention efforts. The meeting also provided a platform for reaffirming political commitment to R2P and exploring concrete actions to enhance early warning, prevention and response strategies.

During the event, the newly-appointed UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Chaloka Beyani, opened the discussion followed by interventions from the co-hosts: H.E. Nasser Bourita, Minister for Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates of the Kingdom of Morocco; H.E. Tuma Adama Gento-Kamara, President of the Sierra Leone Bar Association; H.E. Monica Bolaños Pérez, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala; and Véronique Dockendorf, Director of Political Affairs, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Luxembourg. The Global Centre’s Executive Director, Savita Pawnday, moderated the discussion.

Fifty member states RSVP’d to attend, and 24 delivered remarks during the meeting, alongside a representative from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The UN Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect, Mô Bleeker, delivered the closing remarks.

From left to right: UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Chaloka Beyani; UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect, Mô Bleeker; Global Centre Executive Director, Savita Pawnday; and former UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect and former Permanent Representative of Croatia to the UN, H.E. Ivan Šimonović.