The consultation meetings between the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect, Ms. Mô Bleeker, and members of GAAMAC Working Groups took place in three separate sessions in February. Notably, there was one meeting for the Asia-Pacific group and two for the Africa group, with separate sessions for the anglophone and the francophone representatives.

The Asia Pacific and Africa Working Group members represent a diverse set of stakeholders, from CSOs and academia to national institutions. The meetings addressed key challenges in atrocity prevention and the R2P framework, with the main objective of discussing the concerns of the groups in preparation for the R2P 20th-anniversary report.

While there has been progress in institutionalizing R2P within national and regional peace infrastructures, and many local governments have established national peace mechanisms, a cultural shift from response to prevention approaches in the international community is still necessary. Participants mentioned that in the past regional mechanisms have often failed to connect local-level actions with high-level stakeholders.

The discussions stressed critical challenges with the rise of nationalism and democratic backsliding and the impact financial limitations have on the regional and national capacity to respond to emerging threats. Participants believe that addressing these gaps requires a more inclusive approach to prevention strategies, including stronger commitment and sustainable funding.

The role of civil society and grassroots ownership was also addressed and recognized as essential to ensuring legitimacy and sustainability and for guaranteeing effectiveness in the work of national human rights institutions. The inclusive and bottom-up approach proposed by the Special Adviser was once again applauded by the Working Groups members, who reaffirmed their commitment to contributing to the consultations and sharing experiences.

Since its inception in 2013, GAAMAC has been cited eight times in UN documents, reflecting its efforts to translate atrocity prevention into action on the ground and to promote local ownership and participation in mass atrocity prevention.

Mô Bleeker has chaired GAAMAC from its inception in 2013 until 2019. Read her profile here.

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Photo Credit: GAAMAC Support Office 2024