The Global Centre

The Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect as an Associate of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect

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About the Global Centre

The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P), along with Associated Centres throughout the world, will serve a catalyst for moving the responsibility to protect from principle to practice. Housed at the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, in close proximity to UN Headquarters, the Centre will conduct, coordinate, and publish research on refining and applying the R2P concept. It will serve as an information clearing house and resource for governments, international institutions, and non-governmental organizations leading the fight against mass atrocities. The GCR2P was officially launched on 14 February 2008 with a series of events in New York City.

The Global Centre is an initiative of the International Crisis Group, Human Rights Watch, Institute for Global Policy, Oxfam International, and Refugees International. To date, start up support has been pledged by the governments of Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, The Netherlands, Norway, Rwanda, and the United Kingdom, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Open Society Institute, and Scott Lawlor; its International Advisory Board is co-chaired by Gareth Evans and Mohamed Sahnoun.

Despite the progress achieved to date in terms of the development, initial codification and state acceptance in principle of the R2P norm, much remains to be done to effectively implement the concept of the responsibility to protect if civilians are not to continue to be the victims of mass-atrocity crimes. The GCR2P aims to accomplish the following five objectives:

  • advance and consolidate the World Summit consensus on R2P;
  • protect the integrity of the R2P concept;
  • clarify when non-consensual military force can and cannot be used consistently with R2P principles;
  • build capacity on R2P within international institutions, governments, and regional organizations; and
  • have in place the mechanisms and strategies necessary to generate an effective political response as new R2P situations arise.

In order to achieve these objectives, the GCR2P will undertake the following types of activities:

  • promote research and provide a common knowledge and information base on R2P, publishing freely available monographs and reports and maintaining a high quality website;
  • recommend and support strategies for norm consolidation and capacity building worldwide;
  • support and assist efforts to generate the political will in governments and intergovernmental bodies to respond effectively to new R2P situations as they arise;
  • develop close working relationships with key NGOs and relevant units of governments and international regional institutions working on R2P, including in particular the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities and his Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect; and
  • establish linkages worldwide with a wide variety of civil society, academic, governmental, and international bodies involved in relevant analysis and research.

The Relationship

The Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect is one of four founding Associates of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, and the only one created expressly for that purpose. The Associated Centres are designated as such by the Global Centre and linked to the Global Centre. However, they also remain independent of the Global Centre.

While each Associated Centre will have a clear role to play based on its own individual strengths and priorities, the general functions of the Associates will be engaging in advocacy to advance the Responsibility to Protect within the region; promoting understanding of the Responsibility to Protect with governments, regional organizations, and civil society within your region; and conducting research that feeds into the overall research agenda of the Global Centre.