During 2015 states, civil society and the UN took stock of the progress made in operationalizing the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) over the decade since it was first adopted at the UN World Summit in 2005. While practitioners noted the normative and institutional progress towards protecting populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing, critical gaps remain in our collective response to the risk of mass atrocity crimes. As security challenges around the world evolve, we need to continue discussing how to address these threats in innovative ways.

During December 2015, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of South Africa and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, in partnership with the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, convened a workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa on Strengthening South-South Cooperation to Prevent Mass Atrocities. The interactive workshop brought together practitioners from the Global South – including from the emerging powers of India, South Africa and Brazil – to highlight mechanisms for enhancing South-South cooperation in implementing R2P.

The following outcome document highlights the challenges in implementation identified by participants and provides recommendations for strengthening South-South cooperation on mass atrocity prevention.

The full summary is available for download below.