On 15 June the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the United Nations and the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, co-hosted the Annual Evans-Sahnoun Lecture on the Responsibility to Protect. This year’s lecture featured a keynote address by Adama Dieng, Former UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, during which Mr. Dieng shared reflections inspired by his journey at the UN on protecting population from atrocity crimes. The event also featured remarks from the Chargé d’Affaires of the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the UN, Ambassador Martin Gallagher; former Australian foreign minister, President Emeritus of International Crisis Group and Co-chair of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, Professor the Hon. Gareth Evans; and Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Savita Pawnday. Following the keynote address, Ambassador Gallagher facilitated a fireside chat featuring Mr. Dieng and Ms. Pawnday.

The Evans-Sahnoun Lecture was initiated by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect in 2010 to honor the contributions made by former Australian foreign minister, Gareth Evans, and renowned Algerian diplomat, Mohamed Sahnoun, to the development of the Responsibility to Protect principle. The lecture series provides an opportunity for eminent public figures to share their experiences in the field of mass atrocity prevention, international diplomacy, justice and human rights.