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Update on Working Group Activities
On April 5, the U.S. Institute of Peace hosted the fifth session of the Working Group on the Responsibility to Protect. This session of the Working Group --- co-chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Ambassador Richard Williamson -- focused on global perspectives on the responsibility to protect (R2P) and explored the differing international views on the R2P principle. The session featured presentations from Ambassador Hardeep Puri, India’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ambassador Carlos Portales, Chile’s former ambassador to the United Nations, and Mr. William Awinador, deputy permanent representative of Ghana to the United Nations. A number of countries remain skeptical of the Responsibility to Protect, as they see the principle as a potential stalking-horse for Western interventionism. A majority of the U.N. member states remains supportive of this principle, even within the developing world. The common ground is to question not whether, but how to prevent atrocities.
On March 9, the Working Group convened at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to discuss the role of international actors in implementing R2P. The speakers were General James Jones, former National Security Adviser, and Edward Luck, the U.N. Secretary-General's Special Adviser on R2P. NATO, the United Nations and the U.S. military play an important operational role in the implementation of this principle. International support for R2P continues to grow, as the principle becomes a standard element of the international political response to atrocities. But a significant level of discomfort remains when moving from theory to practice. It remains unclear what the precedential value of Libya will be, and whether Libya will prove to be the high watermark for R2P, or the start of more consistent and effective R2P action. The upcoming NATO Summit in Chicago, and the U.S. Presidency over the U.N. Security Council next April, provide an excellent opportunity for the United States to demonstrate leadership on this important issue.
Previous Working Group sessions discussed the role of the U.S. Executive Branch and Congress in implementing R2P and atrocity prevention policies. The Working Group also continues to organize outreach activities, including public events, private roundtables, and sub-group meetings.
Participating Organizations
Project Chairs
Co-Chairs:
- Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
- Former Presidential Special Envoy to Sudan Richard Williamson
USIP Experts:
Abiodun Williams
Acting Vice President, Center for Conflict Management
Jointly organized by the United States Institute of Peace, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Brookings Institution, the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) working group seeks to increase understanding of R2P and identify concrete steps to bolster the political will of U.S. decision-makers to respond in a timely manner to threats of genocide, crimes against humanity and other mass atrocities in this emerging national norm.
Current events in Syria serve as tragic reminders that the world continues to struggle to mobilize timely and effective action when governments attack their own people. The principle of the responsibility to protect populations from genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and ethnic cleansing is one of the most important developments in the effort to eradicate mass atrocities. Originally articulated in 2001 by the Canadian-sponsored International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty and accepted by heads of state and government at the 2005 World Summit, the responsibility to protect—or R2P—seeks to reframe the debate around “humanitarian intervention” in a way that emphasizes the complementary responsibilities of national governments and the international community.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Presidential Special Envoy to Sudan Richard Williamson co-chair the Working Group on the Responsibility to Protect, which includes former U.S. government officials, academics, foreign policy experts, political consultants and media professionals and aims to:
- Enhance understanding of the barriers to the prevention of genocide, crimes against humanity and other mass atrocities identified in R2P
- Assess how R2P has worked in practice in relevant cases
- Identify concrete steps to bolster the political will of U.S. decision-makers to respond in a timely manner to threats of mass atrocities
The Report of the Working Group will be released in December 2012.
More from USIP
- Genocide Prevention Task Force
Making Sense of the U.N. Impasse on Syria
On the Issues by Abiodun Williams | February 2012
Abiodun Williams discusses the U.N. Security Council's rejection of a resolution on the violence in Syria and its implications for "Responsibility to Protect." Williams is acting senior vice president of USIP’s Center for Conflict Management (CCM), where he leads its work in conflict zones such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, the Middle East and North Africa.- New Steps to Prevent Genocide
On the Issues | August 2011
Lawrence Woocher discusses President Barack Obama’s major announcement Thursday on new steps to prevent mass atrocities, including the creation of an interagency Atrocities Prevention Board and other initiatives. 
Conflict Assessment and Intelligence Analysis
USIP Special Report | June 2011
To be effective, policymaking and programming in conflict situations must start with an accurate understanding of local context, conflict actors, causes, and the dynamic relationships among them. The report argues that complex conflict situations can be better understood by tapping the potential synergy between two distinct approaches to analyzing conflicts—conflict assessment and intelligence analysis.- Making Peace After Genocide
USIP PeaceWorks | April 2011
In this report, former presidential special envoy Howard Wolpe examines the four phases of peacemaking in Burundi after genocide. - Libya, Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect
On the Issues | March 29, 2011 - Libya and the "Responsibility to Protect"
On the Issues | March 1, 2011 - Confronting the Challenge of "Political Will"
Remarks by Richard H. Solomon and Lawrence Woocher
Instability Warning and Genocide Prevention Symposium
Vanderbilt University Law School | March 18, 2010 - Sign up to receive USIP's Prevention Newsletter, a bi-monthly newsletter providing highlights of USIP’s conceptual work, its region-specific work, and special projects related to conflict prevention.
- Read about the term "genocide" in USIP's Glossary of Terms for Conflict Management and Peacebuilding.