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11. 2019-2021 UN Human Rights Council Elections and the Responsibility to Protect

Author:
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Abstract:
Today the UN General Assembly elected Argentina, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Czech Republic, Denmark, Eritrea, Fiji, India, Italy, Philippines, Somalia, Togo and Uruguay to the Human Rights Council (HRC) for the 2019-2021 term. With the elections of Argentina, Bangladesh, Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy and Uruguay, 20 of the 47 Council members during 2019 are also members of the Group of Friends of the Responsibility to Protect in Geneva.
Topic:
Human Rights, Elections, Responsibility to Protect (R2P), Atrocities, and UN Human Rights Council (HRC)
Political Geography:
United Nations and Global Focus

12. The UN Security Council’s Implementation of the Responsibility to Protect: A Review of Past Interventions and Recommendations for Improvement

Author:
Jared Genser
Publication Date:
09-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Abstract:
When it was adopted by the United Nations (UN) system in 2005, the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) was meant to provide an implementation mechanism for the international community to respond to governments that were perpetrating the mass atrocity crimes of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. As R2P is now in its second decade of existence, it is important to evaluate past implementation of R2P by the UN Security Council — the UN body charged with taking collective action when all other preventive efforts have failed and atrocity crimes are being committed or are imminent. This briefing paper is a summary of a more detailed law review article recently published in the University of Chicago Journal of International Law.
Topic:
Genocide, War Crimes, Ethnic Cleansing, International Community, Responsibility to Protect (R2P), UN Security Council, and Crimes Against Humanity
Political Geography:
United Nations and Global Focus

13. Defining the Four Mass Atrocity Crimes

Author:
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Publication Date:
08-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Abstract:
During the 2005 United Nations World Summit, heads of state and government accepted the responsibility of every state to protect its population from four crimes: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. The first three crimes are legally defined in various international legal documents, such as the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their 1977 Additional Protocols, and the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Their status as international crimes is based on the belief that the acts associated with them affect the core dignity of human beings, both in times of peace and in times of war.
Topic:
Genocide, War Crimes, Ethnic Cleansing, and Crimes Against Humanity
Political Geography:
United Nations and Global Focus

14. R2P and Outcomes of the Human Rights Council’s 38th Session

Author:
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Publication Date:
07-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Abstract:
The 38th regular session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) was held in Geneva between 18 June and 6 July 2018. As the primary international human rights body, the Human Rights Council has the capacity to prevent and respond to potential mass atrocity crimes. The summary below highlights major outcomes and relevant dialogues from the 38th session as they relate to the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing. As part of the session, the Netherlands and Australia delivered two statements on behalf of the 51 members of the Group of Friends of R2P.
Topic:
Responsibility to Protect (R2P), Atrocities, UN Human Rights Council (HRC), and Crimes Against Humanity
Political Geography:
Democratic Republic of the Congo, United Nations, Syria, and Eritrea

15. 2019-2020 UN Security Council Elections and the Responsibility to Protect

Author:
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Abstract:
Today, 8 June 2018, the United Nations General Assembly elected Belgium, Dominican Republic, Germany, Indonesia and South Africa to the UN Security Council for 2019-2020. With their election, 9 of the 15 members of the Council in 2019 will be “Friends of the Responsibility to Protect” – having appointed an R2P Focal Point and/or joined the Group of Friends of R2P in New York and Geneva. The global displacement of civilians due to conflict, mass atrocities and persecution is at its highest level since the end of the Second World War. As the UN body responsible for maintaining international peace and security, the Security Council must ensure that populations in every country are protected from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.
Topic:
UN Security Council and UN Human Rights Council (HRC)
Political Geography:
Indonesia, South Africa, Germany, Belgium, United Nations, and Dominican Republic

16. R2P and Outcomes of the Human Rights Council 37th Session

Author:
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Publication Date:
04-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Abstract:
The 37th regular session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) was held in Geneva between the 26 February and 23 March 2018. As the primary international human rights body, the Human Rights Council has the capacity to prevent and respond to mass atrocity crimes, as systematic violations and abuses of human rights can be an indicator of potential genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity or ethnic cleansing. The summary below highlights major outcomes and relevant dialogues from the 37th session as they relate to the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) populations from such crimes. As part of the session, the Netherlands and Rwanda delivered two statements on behalf of the fifty-one members of the Group of Friends of R2P.
Topic:
International Law, Elections, Atrocities, and UN Human Rights Council (HRC)
Political Geography:
United Nations and Global Focus

17. The Art of the Deal, the AK-47 and the Arms Trade Treaty

Author:
Simon Adams
Publication Date:
07-2017
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Abstract:
When we think of the Holocaust our mind slips inexorably to dismal images of cattle cars stuffed with people, or to gas chambers, crematoria and the cruel irony of the “Arbeit Macht Frei” gate. But of the six million Jews killed during the Holocaust over a million were shot with rifles and other small arms. They were not killed in concentration camps, but were murdered in fields or forests and pitched into mass graves outside villages in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe. Before Auschwitz, Sobibor or Treblinka, the Holocaust began with bullets. The same is true of most mass atrocities carried out since 1945. From the killing fields of Cambodia to the burnt villages of Darfur, most of the killing was done with rifles and other small arms. It is for this reason that there is an enduring connection between preventing atrocities and confronting the international arms trade. The AK-47, or Kalashnikov, is the most popular weapon in the world today, with an estimated 70 million currently in existence. Numerous countries manufacture local variants of the ubiquitous assault rifle and while a new Chinese-made AK-47 might cost you $500, you can easily purchase one in many former conflict zones for as cheap as $50. When I lived in Johannesburg during the mid-1990s, leftover AK-47s from the civil war in Mozambique were still making their way through the townships and some entrepreneurial gangs were even renting out their AK-47s to other aspiring criminals at an hourly rate.
Topic:
Violent Extremism, Weapons, Arms Trade, and Responsibility to Protect (R2P)
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, Middle East, United Nations, and Global Focus

18. Notes for the Next UN Secretary-General

Author:
Simon Adams
Publication Date:
10-2016
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Abstract:
The United Nations faces an existential crisis. The norms that bind and ‘safeguard humanity’ are currently under threat. The deliberate bombing of hospitals and the indiscriminate killing of civilians has become almost routine in Syria and several other conflicts. Numerous governments and murderous non-state actors (like isis or Boko Haram) are defying international humanitarian and human rights law. This article argues that the solution to the current global exigency and a central challenge facing the next Secretary-General is to achieve an equilibrium shift away from crisis response and towards conflict prevention. This is especially true with regard to preventing mass atrocity crimes (genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing). Historically, no single issue has done more to tarnish the reputation of the un than the failure to halt atrocities. Under a committed Secretary-General, the un has unique capacity to prevent these crimes.
Topic:
International Law, Displacement, Conflict, Violence, and Responsibility to Protect (R2P)
Political Geography:
United Nations, Syria, and Global Focus