Virtual Seminar: The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) at 15: Current Challenges and Future Prospects

In 2005, all UN member states unanimously adopted the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), entailing responsibilities of each state and the international community to protect and prevent humanity from four atrocity crimes namely genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. The R2P adoption indicates a symbolic acceptance among states that hideous atrocities such as those in Cambodia in the 1970s, and Rwanda and Bosnia in the 1990s must be prevented from happening again, and the international community must not turn blind eyes on mass crimes like it did in the past. After 15 years, although R2P has gained considerable momentums, paths for genuine acceptance and implementation of this norm among states remain difficult.

The Virtual Seminar aims to primarily review the progress and challenges of implementing R2P and atrocities prevention after 15 years of its adaptation. It also seeks to revitalise and renew the impetus of the principle of R2P by examining roles of the UN and regional organisations in advancing atrocities prevention and R2P.

Register for this event via Zoom here. 

More information about the speakers in this seminar can be found here (PDF, 587KB).

Agenda

13:30 Virtual Seminar Begins

13:30-13:40 Welcome Remarks by H.E. Ambassador PouSothirak, CICP Executive Director

13:40-13:55 Keynote Address by H.E. Dr. Karen Smith, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General on R2P, on “The Role of UN in implementing R2P: Key Achievements and Challenges”

13:55-14:05 Video Message by Professor Alex Bellamy, Director of the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (APR2P), on “The Need to Continue R2P Mission: Global Challenges and Ways Forward”

14:05-14:15 Presentation by H.E. Ambassador PouSothirak, CICP Executive Director, on “Cambodian Experience in Promoting R2P: Prospects and Challenges”

14:15-14:25 Presentation by Dr. Noel M. Morada, Director, Regional Diplomacy and Capacity Building, APR2P, on “R2P Promotion and Implementation in ASEAN: Overcoming Challenges to Promoting Atrocities Prevention”

14:25-14:35 Presentation by Dr. Sriprapha Petcharamesree, Senior Lecturer of the Ph.D. Program in Human Rights and Peace Studies (International) of the Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies at Mahidol University and former Thai Representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), on “Promoting and Implementing R2P and Atrocities Prevention in ASEAN”

14:35-14:45 Presentation by H.E. Edmund Bon Tai Soon, Former Malaysian Representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), on “The Role of AICHR and its limitations in Addressing the RohingyaCrisis”

14:45-15:25 Discussions among Participants with Distinguished Speakers

15:25-15:30 Closing Remarks by H.E. Ambassador PouSothirak, CICP Executive Director

15:30 Virtual Seminar Concludes