On 23 March, UNA-UK's Responsibility to Protect Programme Officer, Alexandra Buskie, participated in an event organised by UNA-Sweden as part of Sweden's Europa Forum, a week long event discussing the future of Europe in the world.
Alex chaired a panel focussing on the role of the European Union and the United Nations in preventing mass atrocities and upholding the responsibility to protect (R2P), with Aleksander Gabelic, Chairman of UNA-Sweden, H.E. Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Ambassador of France to Sweden, Olle Schmidt, Swedish Liberal Party Member of European Parliament and Dr Maria Stromvik, senior lecturer in political science at the University of Lund.
During the session, the panelists discussed the challenges and opportunities for increased European involvement in UN peacekeeping operations, as well as the French proposal for a code of conduct on the use of the veto in the UN Security Council in cases of mass atrocities.
During her trip, Alex also met colleagues at UNA-Denmark in Copenhagen, as well as with representatives from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the British Embassy in Copenhagen. During these meetings, she discussed the R2P Focal Points initiative, a network led jointly by the governments of Denmark and Ghana. Appointing an R2P Focal Point within government is an important step states can take to improve efforts to prevent and halt mass atrocities across governmet as well as helping to support international cooperation between participating states. The UK has participated in this network, but has yet to institutionalise the position.
