General Assembly 14 July 2010
Original: English
10-45020 (E) 160710
Sixty-fourth session
Agenda items 48 and 114
Integrated and coordinated impl ementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit
Early warning, assessment and the responsibility to protect
Report of the Secretary-General
I. Introduction
1. The present report is prepared in order to update Member States on certain aspects of the responsibility to protect, pursuant to General Assembly resolution 63/308, in which the Assembly confirmed its intention “to continue its consideration of the responsibility to protect” as called for in the 2005 World Summit Outcome.
1 Specifically, the report addresses matters that were raised in the annex to my report,
“Implementing the responsibility to protect ” (A/63/677), which were subsequently debated in the Assembly on 21, 23, 24 and 28 July 2009.
II. Mandate
2. The 2005 World Summit Outcome called for an expansion of the United Nations capabilities for early warning and assessment of possible genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, 2 and in paragraph 138, the Heads of State and Government unambiguously pledged to “support the United Nations in establishing an early warning capability”.
3. In paragraph 139 of the Outcome, the Heads of State and Government underscored that the international community, through the United Nations, also has the responsibility to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, in accordance with Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter of the United Nations, to help protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing.
10-45020 2 and crimes against humanity. Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter, on the pacific settlement of disputes and on regional arrang ements, respectively, offer a wide range of tools that could be employed to protect populations, by peaceful means, from the four crimes and violations listed above, as emphasized in the discussion of the three pillars of the strategy for implementing th e responsibility to protect (see A/63/677).
Such peaceful and preventive measures, it should be recalled, are most likely to be effective if they are undertaken at an ear ly point and are carefully targeted and calibrated. This, in turn, requires early warning and a differentiated assessment of the circumstances of each case.
4. At the World Summit, Heads of State and Government stated: “We also intend to commit ourselves, as necessary and appropriate, to helping States build capacity to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity and to assisting those which are under stress before crises and conflicts break out.” The implementation of preventive measures “before crises and conflicts break out” and the identification of which States “are under stress” necessarily entail timely early warning and impartial assessment by the United Nations.
5. In the same paragraph, the world leaders declared that: “we are prepared to take collective action, in a timely and decisive manner, through the Security Council, in accordance with the Charter, including Chapter VII, on a case-by-case basis and in cooperation with relevant regi onal organizations as appropriate, should peaceful means be inadequate and nationa l authorities are manifestly failing to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity”. Decisions about collective action, as well as judgments about whether peaceful means are inadequate and whether “national authorities are manifestly failing to protect,” should ultima tely be made by the Security Council or, less frequently, by the General Assembly . Such decisions, however, are normally informed, at least in part, by information and assessments provided by the secretariat, especially if they are to be taken “in a timely and decisive manner,” as called for in the World Summit Outcome. In such cases, the quality and timeliness of the inputs from the Secretariat are vital, especially to those Member States that do not have extensive national sources of information and analysis.
6. In paragraph 140 of the World Summit Outcome, the Heads of State and Government declared that they fully sup ported the mission of the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on th e Prevention of Genocide. The responsibilities of the Special Adviser, which depend heavily on early warning and assessment capacities, are as follows:
(a) To collect existing information, in particular from within the United Nations system, on massive and serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law of ethnic and racial origin which, if not prevented or halted, might lead to genocide;
(b) To act as a mechanism of early warning to the Secretary-General, and through him to the Security Council, by bringing to their attention situations that could potentially result in genocide;
- Resolution 60/1, para. 139.
2 Ibid., paras. 138-140.
A/64/867