Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has responded to a joint letter from UNA-UK and the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect (ICRtoP), urging the UK Government to drive forward the adoption of a draft General Assembly resolution on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P).
R2P is an international principle agreed in 2005 that sets out the responsibility of member states to protect civilians from atrocity crimes; specifically, war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and ethnic cleansing. The draft General Assembly resolution calls for all member states to recommit to R2P and encourages states to develop national strategies for implementation.
In the joint letter sent in March, UNA-UK and ICRtoP called on the British Government to “fully support” the initiative, and to use its international influence “to foster unanimous support for the resolution” in the General Assembly. The letter highlights that if adopted in its current form, this resolution would be the first substantive General Assembly text on R2P since 2005 and would put R2P on the provisional agenda of the 71st session of the Assembly.
UNA-UK welcomes the response from Mr Hammond, who assured that the UK is continuing to work directly with other states to seek consensus for the implementation of R2P. In his letter, the Foreign Secretary states that the UK Government “supports unanimous agreement to a resolution that reaffirms commitment to the Responsibility to Protect”, adding that the UK has “been vocal in lobbying for inclusion of R2P language” in resolutions at the Security Council and Human Rights Council.
Whilst UNA-UK is heartened by this response, it is disappointing that Mr Hammond did not use the opportunity to detail how the UK Government will set an example to other states by incorporating R2P into national policy. In the letter, Mr Hammond states that the UK Government “believes that R2P should be a guiding principle in all countries’ work on conflict, human rights and development”. UNA-UK believes that the Government should set out a national strategy for responding to the threat of atrocity crimes in order to put this statement into practice and provide an example to other member states.
Image: United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Briefs Press - 10 November 2015. Copyright UN Photo/Mark Garten
