iR2P

In the video below, Francis Deng, the respected Sudanese scholar and diplomat who is UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities, explains how he interprets his challenging job description. (”Of course I felt honoured, but I soon began to ask myself, what have I got myself into?”)

He emphasises the importance of constructive engagement and collaboration with states, subregional organisations and civil society to encourage “the constructive management of diversity”:

“Wherever there is exclusion and marginalisation, there is a risk of reaction to injustice, leading to a clampdown that can become genocidal. This is a problem that could affect any country in the world: all our countries have identity differences.”

He sums up the essence of the Responsibility to Protect in the phrase, “sovereignty as responsibility”, which Deng himself coined some time ago while working to improve the protection of the 25 million internally displaced people around the world.

(The video may take a few moments to load. Don’t worry about the weird Thunderbirds beeps at the start. If it doesn’t appear, please try this link instead.)