The Powers of the UN General Assembly to Prevent and Respond to Atrocity Crimes

Thu 3 Jun 2021 11:30pm
Register for the event here.

Join APR2P and its partners for the launch and discussion of "The Powers of the UN General Assembly to Prevent and Respond to Atrocity Crimes: A Guidance Document".

In the framework of the UN Charter, the General Assembly has the primary responsibility to promote and protect human rights. Where human rights violations are so widespread and systematic that they threaten international peace and security, responsibility falls to the Security Council. In many of today’s most serious human rights crises, however, a unified response from the Council has been challenging, bringing greater importance to the critical role the General Assembly can play in the prevention of and response to atrocity crimes.

"The Powers of the UN General Assembly to Prevent and Respond to Atrocity Crimes: A Guidance Document" provides a resource for member states, outlining a number of practical ways the General Assembly can act upon its powers to more robustly respond to atrocities.

The permanent missions of Australia and Croatia to the United Nations, together with the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect and the Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, will co-host a virtual launch event on Thursday, 3 June, to share insights from this new report.

The discussion will feature the following speakers:

  • H.E. Mr. Volkan Bozkir - President of the UN General Assembly
  • H.E. Mr. Ivan Simonovic - Permanent Representative of Croatia to the UN
  • Ms. Karen Smith - UN Special Adviser on R2P
  • Ms. Rebecca Barber - Research Fellow Asia Pacific Centre for R2P
  • Dr. Simon Adams - Executive Director Global Centre for R2P
  • H.E. Mr. Mitchell Fifield - Permanent Representative of Australia to the UN

The event will take place via Zoom on Thursday, 3 June 2021, at 0930 EST.

Register here