Special Features

Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect: R2P in Focus: UN General Assembly Eighth Informal Interactive Dialogue on R2P

September 27, 2016

R2P in Focus, No. 6

R2P in Focus

R2P in Focus is a monthly publication from the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect designed to highlight recent events and political developments concerning the Responsibility to Protect (R2P).

8th UN General Assembly Informal Interactive Dialogue on R2P

UN Photo/Cia Pak

On 6 September the President of the 70th UN General Assembly, H.E. Mr. Mogens Lykketoft, convened the eighth informal interactive dialogue on R2P. This year’s dialogue was focused on the last report of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on R2P: “Mobilizing collective action: The next decade of the responsibility to protect.” In his opening remarks, UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said R2P was a signature achievement of the UN and that “the time has now come to seriously counter and confront crisis and potential crisis situations. There are millions of people looking to the UN for help in a 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.”

A panel of experts, including the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Mr. Adama Dieng, and two former Special Advisers on R2P, Dr. Edward Luck and Dr. Jennifer Welsh, presented their perspectives on the Secretary-General’s report. During the debate, 68 member states and the European Union delivered statements on behalf of 93 countries. For the third year in a row, the UN Group of Friends of R2P delivered a statement at the event. Additionally, the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect was among four civil society organizations to deliver statements.

Member states used the dialogue as an opportunity to reflect upon remaining obstacles to mobilizing consistent and timely action to prevent or halt atrocities. Some member states spoke about how to improve the UN’s response in the face of atrocities, including through supporting the ACT Code of Conduct and the French/Mexican Initiative on the veto, strengthening peacekeeping through the Kigali Principles, and encouraging regular briefings to the UN Security Council by the UN Office on the Prevention of Genocide and R2P. Participants also discussed countering violent extremism and accountability for mass atrocity crimes.

For more information, including statements and video footage, see our Overview of the 8th Annual Informal Interactive Dialogue on R2P.

UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministeria l

On 8 September over 80 UN troop contributing countries gathered in London for the annual UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial. Many states made pledges to bolster their troop, police and financial contributions. The outcome document focused on the “Three Ps” of peacekeeping: planning, pledges and performance. During the meeting participants addressed the need for peacekeepers to deliver on their mandated responsibilities, particularly with regard to civilian protection, noting the “best practices set out in the Kigali Principles.”

Peacekeeping and the Kigali Principles

UNGA Calendar Highlights

The annual general debate of the 71st UN General Assembly will take place from 20 to 26 September. The Global Centre is co-hosting and participating in a variety of events during this important time.

Monday, 19 September 2016

The governments of the United Kingdom, Belgium and Iraq will co-host an event on fighting impunity for victims of Da’esh. The Global Centre’s Executive Director, Dr. Simon Adams, will be moderating the event.

Tuesday, 20 September 2016

The Holy See and the UN Office on the Prevention of Genocide and R2P will co-host an event with the Global Centre on the role of religious leaders in preventing mass atrocities. This event is open to the public and will take place from 3:00 to 4:30 PM in UN Headquarters Conference Room 2.

Wednesday, 21 September 2016

The governments of the Netherlands, Italy and Rwanda, in coordination with the Global Centre, will co-host the 9th Annual Ministerial Roundtable on the Responsibility to Protect. The discussion will focus on the Kigali Principles on the Protection of Civilians.

Thursday, 22 September 2016

The governments of Liechtenstein, Mexico and Costa Rica, in partnership with the Global Centre, will co-host an event on preventing mass atrocities and advancing UN Security Council reform.

For information on all #UNGA events and statements that are R2P-related, follow @GCR2P on Twitter.

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Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect: R2P Monitor, Issue 29, 15 September 2016

September 27, 2016

15 September 2016

Web Version

R2P Monitor, Issue 29

Dear colleague,

I would like to draw your attention to the latest issue of our publication, R2P Monitor.

R2P Monitor is a bimonthly bulletin applying the Responsibility to Protect lens to populations at risk of mass atrocities around the world. Issue 29 looks at developments in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Burma/Myanmar, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan and Burundi. To read R2P Monitor please access the document via the following link: R2P Monitor, Issue 29.

Issue 29 also includes an insert regarding states that have endorsed the Kigali Principles on the Protection of Civilians. For more information on the Kigali Principles, see: Peacekeeping and the Kigali Principles.

I hope you will find this edition a useful tool as we work together to prevent and halt mass atrocity crimes.

Dr Simon Adams
Executive Director

Global Centre for the
Responsibility to Protect

Ralph Bunche Institute for
International Studies
The Graduate Center, CUNY
365 Fifth Avenue, Suite 5203
New York, NY 10016-4309, USA

Phone: 1 212-817-2104
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ICTJ: In Focus: Duterte’s Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines

September 27, 2016

ICTJ In Focus 60
September 2016

In Focus

Duterte’s ‘War on Drugs’ Brings Dictatorship Methods Back to the PhilippinesIn less than two months since the inauguration of Rodrigo Duterte as president of the Philippines some 1,900 people have been killed at the hands of the police and death squads for suspected drug dealing or drug addiction. These unlawful murders echo the pattern of widespread and systematic extrajudicial killings that the country suffered under dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Other News

In South Africa, Education as Redress Has Seen Mixed ResultsCan education help right the wrongs of the past, especially when the majority of the population was affected by those wrongs? Teboho Moja examines that question in the context of South Africa, where efforts to reform a discriminatory educational system and redress its consequences have been met with mixed results.

Publications

The Case for Action on Transitional Justice and DisplacementAs many European countries were beginning to emerge from the depths of the financial problems caused by the 2008 global crash, a new crisis emerged threatening to envelop the continent: the displacement of huge numbers of people fleeing humanitarian disasters in the Middle East and Africa and a slew of related political, financial, and security problems.

View Report

Education and Transitional Justice: Opportunities and Challenges for PeacebuildingThis report, part of a joint research project by ICTJ and UNICEF on the intersections of education, transitional justice, and peacebuilding, explores how a transitional justice framework can help to identify educational deficits relating to the logic of past conflict and/or repression and inform the reconstruction of the education sector.

View Report

More Publications

Upcoming Events

October 01, 2016

70th Anniversary of the Verdicts of the International Military Tribunal Location:Nuremberg, Germany View Details

October 19, 2016

Dealing with the Past in Northern Ireland: the Victims’ Perspective Location:Ulster University View Details

More Events

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Salam Kawakibi: Manufactured Expertise: Selling Out Arab News Audiences

September 26, 2016

Since the onset of the “Arab Spring,” and through the development of revolutionary phases, with their violent consequences, Arab satellite TV stations, which reach millions of viewers, persistently devoted themselves to broadcasting interviews with “analysts,” “academics,” and “experts” on the issues surrounding various national uprisings.

As events continued to unfold, the demand for these types of guests increased, despite a structural supply shortage of serious and professional experts. Subsequently, some stations resorted to “manufacturing” their experts, inviting virtual unknowns and bestowing upon them supreme titles in an attempt to artificially qualify them for their roles as news analysts without having to go through the vetting process of reviewing their actual scientific or practical credentials.

As a result, many true experts – including those knowledgeable about the subject matter in question – simply refused to participate in the charade. Respect for the viewers, and their intelligence, as well as the experts’ own self-respect made them unwilling to be misrepresented.

Other groups chose to strictly confine their TV appearances within the limits of their expertise, avoiding pretensions, or the temptation to make claims of knowledge in areas outside their specializations or practical experiences. Nonetheless, a majority of the guests did willingly plunge into the maze of spotlights, exploiting the qualitative and quantitative shortage of truly qualified experts. They emerged as “stars” of the screen, triumphing at the expense of the viewer, regardless of the simplicity of his understanding and the shallowness of his knowledge.

The interviews varied from individual commentary on a specific event to confrontational conversations between two or more speakers. The moderator often actively stirred up the atmosphere, inducing shouting matches and raised voices in order to attract the largest number of thrill-seeking guests. Arabic-language satellites distinguished themselves in producing these types of talk shows, justifying the final product as a form of vigorous debate and diversity of opinion. Some of these programs gained wide popularity with many viewers anxiously awaiting their broadcasts, like people lining up to watch a street fight.

As the Syrian slaughter continued unabated, these talk show programs became profitable. Those searching for calm and deliberate analysis instead found guests engaged in shouting matches punctuated with harsh, reckless words, and thoughtless gestures. Originally exclusive to Arab TV stations, this practice was soon imitated by the new Europe-based Arabic stations. A majority of those managing the diasporic media still embrace a share of the authoritarian Arab media culture which they carried with them as they migrated to the West, releasing hidden desires to exercise power in doses of professionally unjustified aggressiveness. The image of the winner and the loser becomes clear in these conversations: whoever has the louder voice and the greater skill in mocking their opponent will emerge as the victor.

According to the old economic market doctrine, demand creates supply. On Arab satellite talk shows, this means a vast market of loud-talking “specialists” in the Syrian conflict who have just strolled into TV studios after practicing in other arenas. Both Syrian regime representatives and supporters start to psychologically manipulate their counterparts even before taking the stage. The regime representatives, polished, and professionally made up, face the opposition’s spokesperson as if to impart to him the ability to facilitate his “return to the homeland,” or they continue to make gestures that question his patriotism and nationality. Utilizing the Stasi method – according to the horrific East German intelligence service – he succeeds in aggravating the atmosphere, pushing the opposition debater to fall into the trap of entrenching himself in a defensive position, and resorting to verbal violence which causes him to lose control over his thought processes. On the opposite side, the loyalist guest, carefully trained, remains sufficiently calm when necessary, and adequately raises his voice when he becomes vindictive.

However, others, not just regime loyalists, find themselves guilty of hollow speech. The “revolutionary” voice or opposition falls into the trap of populism, and an empty rhetoric devoid from meaning, often reverting to repetition of already-stated sentences which they think, erroneously, will enable them to preserve their credibility and popularity. Ultimately, they distance themselves from actually delving into the subject, or properly analyzing it.

The first and the last victim remains the Syrian viewer who searches for intellectual assistance, or even truthful news assistance, to aid his own personal understanding of daily issues. The Syrians, and other Arabs, who live with great pain and deep wounds, constitute the real losers far more than all these guests on the satellite screens who are presumably considered “strategic experts.”

Edited translation from the Arabic by Elie Chalala. The author has granted Al Jadid magazine the right to translate and publish his essay. The Arabic version of Mr. al-Kawakibi’s essay appeared in https://hunasotak.com/article/21186.

This essay is scheduled to appear in the forthcoming Al Jadid, Vol. 20, no. 71 (2016).

Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect: Atrocity Alert: Syria and South Sudan

September 22, 2016

Atrocity Alert, No. 21

Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect highlighting and updating situations where populations are at risk of, or are enduring, mass atrocity crimes.

Syria

On 6 September Syrian government forces were accused of dropping barrel bombs filled with chlorine gas on the Al-Sukari neighborhood in eastern Aleppo. These accusations come one week after the UN Security Council met to discuss the report of the UN-Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Joint Investigation Mechanism (JIM) on responsibility for chemical weapons use in Syria, and less than a month since at least three people were killed during a reported chlorine attack on the opposition-held Zubdiya neighborhood of Aleppo on 10 August. It was reported that at least 70 people were injured during Tuesday’s attack, including women and children. The recent JIM report concluded that Syrian government forces had carried out at least two chemical weapons attacks since 2013. The use of chemical weapons constitutes a war crime and is in clear contravention of Security Council Resolution 2118, which threatened possible Chapter VII measures in the event of non-compliance.

The latest report of the Human Rights Council-mandated Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on Syria was published on 6 September. The CoI condemns the increase in indiscriminate attacks on civilians and medical facilities following the breakdown of February’s cessation of hostilities and asserts that “without a return to the peace process, the Syrian conflict, and the violations and abuses it has nourished, will continue.”

Populations at Risk: Syria

Populations at Risk: South Sudan

South Sudan

Following renewed fighting in Juba during July and the UN Security Council’s authorization of the deployment of a Regional Protection Force (RPF), South Sudan is at a critical juncture for the prevention of further mass atrocity crimes. The UN Security Council visited South Sudan from 2 to 5 September to discuss with government officials, UN representatives and civil society how to improve the security and humanitarian situation across the country. The Transitional Government of National Unity and UN Security Council members issued a Joint Communique on 4 September in which the government consented to the deployment of the RPF as part of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). UN Security Council Resolution 2304 threatened an arms embargo on South Sudan if the government impeded the deployment of the RPF. Ensuring UNMISS’ free movement and establishing the Hybrid Court for South Sudan, in cooperation with the African Union, are other essential commitments that the Transitional Government of National Unity should uphold in order to prevent further atrocities.

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