Building support amongst policy makers for the Responsibility to Protect and its implementation lies at the core of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect’s advocacy efforts. Central to that work is engagement with United Nations member states through their missions in New York, their missions in Geneva and their governments in capital, as well as with the United Nations system more broadly.

This work includes educating policy makers, addressing misconceptions and advancing conceptual clarity and guidance for states about the norm and its implementation. The Global Centre does this through holding bilateral meetings, workshops and events for member state representatives and through publishing policy briefs on relevant thematic issues as well as on situations where populations are at risk of mass atrocity crimes.

The Global Centre conducts advocacy with member states at the UN through three main institutions:

• UN SECURITY COUNCIL

• UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

• UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

The Global Centre also works closely with like-minded states – including members of the Group of Friends of R2P in New York and Geneva – to promote R2P through United Nations forums.

This includes working to facilitate the participation of a diverse group of supportive member states in the General Assembly’s annual R2P dialogue. Held every year since 2009, more than 100 states have taken the floor to share their positions on R2P. The overwhelming majority have spoken in strong support of R2P.

Similarly, the Global Centre encourages states to affirm their support for R2P during the opening session of the General Assembly, in the Security Council and in the Human Rights Council. The Global Centre tracks the positions of states in these forums as well as their domestic efforts to advance R2P.

The Global Centre also works to advance efforts to mainstream R2P within the United Nations system through bilateral meetings and analysis of how best to deepen the United Nations’ preventive and protective capacity. This includes working closely to support the work of the Joint Office on the Prevention of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect.