HRC 47 - ID with the Special Advisor of the Secretary General on Genocide Prevention
Thank you, Madam President.
The EU warmly welcomes Ms. Alice Wairimu Nderitu to the HRC. As a staunch supporter of the Secretary General’s prevention agenda, the EU appreciates this opportunity to engage with you on the ongoing efforts of your office on genocide prevention and the responsibility to protect.
The prevention of mass atrocities is an integral part of the EU Foreign and Security Policy. Under international law, we have collectively undertaken to prevent and punish genocide and other atrocity crimes, which are the result of successive, deliberate actions. All EU Member States are Parties to the Rome Statute and staunchly support the International Criminal Court, only permanent international criminal court and poised to become universal. We must also stay focused on identifying early warning signs and move quickly to early action.
The Human Rights Council and its mechanisms have an important monitoring and early warning role. We therefore welcome an increased focus on how to further operationalize the Council’s prevention mandate and to ensure that “Never Again” becomes a reality, rather than just staying an aspiration. In addition, prevention and early warning are important elements of the mandate of the High Commissioner as well. We encourage the High Commissioner, in line with resolution 45/31, to actively bring information on those regions where there’s a heightened risk of a human rights emergency, including genocide, to the attention of the members and observers of the Human Rights Council in a manner that reflects the urgency of the situation, when her Office identifies patterns that point to a heightened risk. We call on you, Madam Special Advisor, to support our work by using your mandate to continuously provide timely assessments of country situations and concrete advice on how to prevent atrocity crimes.
Recent statements by your Office have warned that a failure to address racial discrimination, ethnic and religious violence, stigmatization and hate speech, create a culture of impunity and a lack of accountability, and thus an environment that exposes civilian populations to a high risk of atrocity crimes.
The European Union and its member states remain strongly committed to ending impunity for mass atrocities. For the EU, national and international accountability efforts, including through the ICC, are key in that regard, as is the gathering of evidence in view of future legal action, by mechanisms such as UN-mandated Commissions of Inquiry and International Mechanisms. We will also continue our work on atrocity prevention through capacity building programs aimed at building strong and resilient societies based on equality and diversity.
Finally, when prevention efforts do not succeed, the international community has a responsibility to protect. The European Union remains committed to the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ doctrine as set out in the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document.
The EU looks forward to strengthening the cooperation of this Council with your office and would be interested to know what can be done in your view, to create greater synergies between Geneva and New York when it comes to mass atrocity prevention.