International News

UNITED NATIONS, (APP): The United Nations deputy chief
has said that collective global action is needed to overcome barriers
to implementation of States’ legal commitments to protect populations
from atrocity crimes – the principle known as ‘responsibility to
protect’ or R2P.
“We have seen concrete implementation plans to make the
‘responsibility to protect’ a living reality,” Deputy Secretary-General
Jan Eliasson said Wednesday at a UN General Assembly interactive
dialogue on the subject.
In his remarks to the gathering, Eliasson flagged that
he had served as President of the General Assembly in 2005,
when the R2P principle was adopted by Member States. “This
commitment was a signature achievement for the United Nations,”
he said.
Much of it was already embedded in the international human
rights obligations of States, he noted. But subsequent events,
such as unconscionable brutality against civilians around the
world, have underlined the need to articulate and affirm this
important principle and place it more prominently on the
international agenda.
“Sadly, we have yet to fully operationalize the
responsibility to protect principle, agreed with such
high hopes and expectations in 2005,” he said, highlighting
points from this year’s report of Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon which will be critical to overcoming implementation
barriers.
First, the Deputy Secretary-General pointed out, prevention
must be taken more seriously. “The call for prevention is not
a rhetorical call; it is a call to action to all States,
organizations and other stakeholders,” he said
Effective prevention requires foresight and serious analysis
as well as constant attention, support and political will, he
said, noting it means integrating a prevention agenda into
national, regional and international frameworks for action.
It also requires additional institutional capacity, he added.
Second, the Deputy Secretary-General observed, there is
a need to be more effective in preventing the recurrence of
atrocity crimes. The international community must support
national authorities in addressing root causes and build or
strengthen the ways to counter atrocity crimes – such as by
inter-communal dialogue, reform of the security sector, and
mechanisms for reconciliation and transitional justice.
“The time has now come to seriously counter and confront
crisis and potential crisis situations,” he said. “here are
millions of people looking to the UN for help in time of
dire need, conflict and distress. In the name of humanity
and in the spirit of the UN Charter, we must not fail
them.”
Also addressing the dialogue was the current President
of the General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft, who recalled
that, in a 2009 report, the Secretary-General proposed
a strategy for the implementation of the responsibility
to protect based on three equal, non-sequential, and
mutually reinforcing pillars: the State’s responsibilities
to protect; international assistance and capacity-building; and
timely and decisive responses.
Last year, the General Assembly’s informal interactive
dialogue on the subject focused on an assessment of progress
in the first decade of the R2P principle, he said at the
meeting’s opening segment, noting that this year’s dialogue
focuses on the obstacles to mobilizing collective action
to prevent and respond to genocide, war crimes, ethnic
cleansing and crimes against humanity, and how such barriers
might be overcome.
The task of strengthening preventive strategies, providing
timely and decisive response, preventing recurrence and
renewing the institutional capacity to prevent and respond,
is of the highest ambition, he said.
“The plight of suffering populations and vulnerable
communities requires no less,” he added.