Media

OTTAWA, October 28, 2011  —  EVENT FULL - REGISTRATION REQUIRED The Centre for International Policy Studies and the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa are pleased to invite members of the media to a panel discussion titled The Responsibility to Protect—10 Years On: Reflections on its Past, Present and Future.

Kofi Annan, former UN secretary general, and Lloyd Axworthy, president of the University of Winnipeg and former Canadian minister of foreign affairs, will discuss this key concept first introduced in November 2001 by the Canadian-sponsored International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty.

The event will be moderated by Lyse Doucet, presenter and foreign correspondent for BBC World Service Radio and BBC World TV.

 **NO AUDIO OR VIDEO RECORDING WILL BE ALLOWED DURING THE EVENT**

Endorsed in 2005 by UN member states, the notion that the UN Security Council should authorize action to prevent mass atrocities in states that are unable or unwilling to do so, continues to generate controversy. To its supporters, the R2P concept is an essential tool in the face of genocide and crimes against humanity. To its detractors, it risks being misused by great powers to legitimate otherwise dubious or even unlawful interventions.

In the wake of the UN Security Council’s authorized use of force by NATO in Libya, are we to judge R2P a success? Is the doctrine being applied as those who originated and pushed the concept expected? What should be done in cases where atrocities continue and no action is possible? Looking ahead, will the use of R2P in Libya strengthen–or weaken–the resolve of the international community to act?