Making “never again” a reality: What Germany can contribute during its next term in the Security Council toward preventing mass atrocities

28 November 2018
In a recent publication by the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, the authors outline a proposal for how Germany should use its 2019-2020 seat on the UN Security Council to advance atrocity prevention.

Noting that its membership offers the opportunity to “make globally visible the existing progress in institutionalizing atrocity prevention at the national and regional levels”, they offer six recommendations. The recommendations are aimed at moving the Council beyond “conflict-hopping” towards prevention at an early stage.

  • Prove that early atrocity prevention works by organizing an open high-level debate on atrocity prevention during its presidency.
  • Introduce atrocity prevention into discussions of ongoing crises, e.g. as a penholder on country situations.
  • Emphasize the gendered nature of atrocity prevention.
  • Work against the trend of sidelining human rights within the UN system.
  • Include the UN atrocity prevention infrastructure at the Council, e.g. by requesting regular briefings by the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and encouraging country visits before crises have broken out.
  • Negotiate solutions for deadlocked situations such as Syria, Yemen and Myanmar.

Read the publication.

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