Five years after its acceptance by the 2005 World Summit, it is time to consider the contribution that the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) has made and could make to the prevention of mass atrocities.

The consensus among the Member States of the United Nations, as reflected in the General Assembly debate in the summer of 2009 is broad but not necessarily deep. While there is considerable general support for R2P along the three pillars suggested by the UN Secretary-General (responsibility of states to protect their own populations, assistance and capacity building and timely responses), fundamental questions remain. For instance: what does R2P add to the already existing obligations of states and to the substantial arsenal of instruments at the possession of the international community to prevent and respond to mass atrocities? Does R2P entail a risk of opening the door to external intervention? And how can R2P be operationalised and implemented in concrete circumstances?

Knowledge of the impact of the principle is limited. Recent practice shows both instances of where the international community succeeded (Kenya) and failed (Darfur) to prevent mass atrocities, but in neither of these cases it is obvious that success or failure could be attributed directly to the use, or lack of use, of the concept of R2P.

The aim of the Conference R2P: From Principle to Practice is to discuss selected aspects of R2P with a view to identify the added value of R2P as well as the challenges for the practical application of R2P.

The Conference will have a strong focus on international law. To the extent that R2P finds a basis in international law, this may foster consensus. Likewise, to the extent that states fear for abuse of R2P as legitimizing intervention, it is the development of international legal rules and procedures that may help placate such fears. However, the Conference recognizes that R2P moves beyond international law, and will integrate insights from political science, international relations and moral philosophy.

The Conference will bring together many internationally acclaimed experts on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), academics as well as policy makers, from all regions of the world. It will identify new research lines that can help to understand and develop R2P, as well as provide concrete ideas that may be used by policy-makers.

Chair: Prof. Andre Nollkaemper, Amsterdam Center for International Law, University of Amsterdam, NL

Invited speakers will include:

· Ademola Abass
Brunel University, UK

· Kwesi Aning
Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, GH

· Francis Deng
Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities, United Nations, US

· Paola Gaeta
Professor of International Law, University degli Studi di Firenze, IT


· Jean-Marie Guéhenno
Brookings Institution and the NYU Center on International Cooperation, US

· Edward Luck
Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the Responsibility to Protect, US

· Larry May
Vanderbilt University, US

· Nicolas Michel
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, CH

· James Pattison
University of Manchester, UK

· Bertrand Ramcharan
Ralph Bunche Institute of International Relations, US, and Centre for Human Rights Law of the University of Nottingham, UK

· Monica Serrano
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, US

· Sarah Sewall
Harvard Kennedy School Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, MARO Project, US

· Daphna Shraga
Office of the Legal Counsel, Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations, US

· Alvaro de Soto
Geneva Centre for Security Policy, CH

· Ramesh Thakur
Balsillie School of International Affairs, CA

· Alex de Waal

Director, Justice Africa, London, UK
HIV/AIDS and Social Transformations Programme Director of the Social Science Research Council, US
Fellow at the Global Equity Initiative, Harvard University, US


· Jennifer Welsh
Professor in International Relations, University of Oxford, UK

Full conference programme and application form accessible online

Closing date for applications: 08 March 2010.

ESF Contact: Alessandra Piccolotto - apiccolotto@esf.org