Media Releases

Commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the 2005 World Summit Outcome at the University of Toronto

March 9, 2015

TORONTO, ON- The Cana­di­an Cen­tre for the Respon­si­bil­i­ty to Pro­tect (CCR2P) is launch­ing its cam­paign com­mem­o­rat­ing the 10th year anniver­sary since the 2005 World Sum­mit Out­come. Enti­tled “R2P at Cross­roads: Ten Years since the 2005 World Sum­mit,” this cam­paign seeks to crit­i­cal­ly exam­ine the nor­ma­tive jour­ney of R2P in the last decade through the lens of para­graphs 138 and 139 of the World Sum­mit Out­come, and pro­vide a forum for dis­cus­sion on the future polit­i­cal imple­men­ta­tion of R2P.

R2P AT CROSSROADS OVERVIEW

  • March 19, 2015, 7PM: Stu­dent debate on R2P with the U of T Fac­ul­ty of Law stu­dents & Hart House Debat­ing Com­mit­tee: “This House believes that our world would be a bet­ter place if nation states con­sis­tent­ly imple­ment­ed R2P in inter­na­tion­al rela­tions.” The debate will take place at the Music Room, Hart House, Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to, 7 Hart House Cir­cle and is free of charge. To reg­is­ter for the event, please use the Eventbrite link: http://bit.ly/18qK8P4
  • March 21, 2015, 1–5PM: Con­fer­ence on the rel­e­vance of R2P in today’s world fea­tur­ing Hon. Irwin Cotler, Dr. Ramesh Thakur, Dr. Paul Hein­beck­er, Dr. Kirsty Dun­can, Very Rev. Lois Wil­son and Ms. Martha-Hall Find­lay. There will be two keynote speech­es by the Hon. Irwin Cotler and Dr. Ramesh Thakur. It will focus on R2P & Syr­ia, Iraq, Cen­tral African Repub­lic and North Korea. The con­fer­ence will take place in the Com­bi­na­tion Room, Trin­i­ty Col­lege, 6 Hoskin Ave and is free of charge. You can reg­is­ter for the event on Eventbrite: http://bit.ly/18qqi6B

DRAFT PROGRAMME

1–1:10PM: Wel­come Remarks by CCR2P (Tina Park & Vic­tor Mac­Di­armid)

1:10–2:00PM: Keynote address by Hon. Irwin Cotler (fol­lowed by Q/A with audi­ence)  

2:10–2:45PM: Lec­ture by Dr. Ramesh Thakur & Dr. Paul Hein­beck­er (TBC) 

2:45–3:15PM: Cof­fee Break

3:15–4:50PM: Pan­el Dis­cus­sion on R2P & cur­rent cri­sis (fol­lowed by Q/A with audi­ence)  

  • Very Rev. Lois Wil­son (North Korea)
  • Erin Mooney (UNHCR, IDPS/R2P)
  • Martha Hall-Find­lay (Syr­ia)
  • Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment Kirsty Dun­can (CAR & South Sudan)
  • Mod­er­at­ed by Kath­leen Davis (Pro­fes­sor, Inter­na­tion­al Crim­i­nal Law at Osgoode Law School)

4:50–5:00PM: Clos­ing Remarks 

  • March 10-April 7, 2015, 6PM: The Sec­ond annu­al CCR2P film fes­ti­val will fea­ture three films on dif­fer­ent sig­nif­i­cant R2P-relat­ed crises in both 20th and 21st The fes­ti­val will begin with a recent Front­line Doc­u­men­tary, “Secret State of North Korea” direct­ed by James Jones. The fol­low­ing film is the award-win­ning Syr­i­an doc­u­men­tary “Sil­vered-Water, Syr­ia Self-Por­trait” by Ossama Mohammed and Wiam Simav Bedirx­an. The fes­ti­val will close with “In the Land of Blood and Hon­ey,” Angeli­na Jolie’s first movie as a direc­tor. The fes­ti­val is to advo­cate the CCR2P’s cam­paign through the pro­tec­tion lens. The event is co-pre­sent­ed with CINSSU.

The sched­ule for the Film Fes­ti­val is as fol­lows:

  • March 10: Secret State of North Korea
    • Fea­tured R2P Cri­sis: North Korea Defec­tors
  • March 31: Sil­vered-Water, Syr­ia Self-Por­trait
    • Fea­tured R2P Cri­sis: Syr­i­an Civ­il War 2011
  • April 7: In the Land of Blood and Hon­ey
    • Fea­tured R2P Cri­sis: Sre­breni­ca Mas­sacre 1995

All screen­ings will be held at 6PM at the Media Com­mons The­atre of the Robarts Library, 130 St. George Street, Toron­to ON. All three events are free of admis­sion. To reg­is­ter for the event, please use the Eventbrite link: http://bit.ly/190tV4m

  • April 2015: the CCR2P will be col­lab­o­rat­ing with the Cana­di­an Inter­na­tion­al Council’s OpenCanada.org for a pub­li­ca­tion series fea­tur­ing promi­nent thinkers & pol­i­cy­mak­ers from around the world to reflect upon “R2P at cross­roads.” Par­tic­u­lar atten­tion will be paid to the crises in Syr­ia, Iraq and the Cen­tral African Repub­lic, fea­tur­ing per­son­al nar­ra­tives, crit­i­cal sug­ges­tions on the nor­ma­tive devel­op­ment of R2P and provoca­tive ideas for future imple­men­ta­tion of R2P.
  • May 1, 2015: Youth & edu­ca­tion out­reach to high schools in the Greater Toron­to Area. Enti­tled “Build­ing Future R2P Lead­ers,” the event will bring togeth­er high school stu­dents from across the Greater Toron­to Area for a day of R2P engage­ment. Through edu­ca­tion­al sem­i­nars, lead­er­ship pan­els, and inter­ac­tive activ­i­ties, par­tic­i­pants will have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to learn about the devel­op­ment of R2P, and reflect on ways to pro­mote its imple­men­ta­tion. The out­reach pro­gram will con­sist of the fol­low­ing ses­sions:
  • R2P Then and Now: A His­to­ry of the Respon­si­bil­i­ty to Pro­tect
  • R2P in Action: Stu­dent Lead­er­ship Pan­el
  • The Future of R2P: Cit­i­zen, Com­mu­ni­ty and the Glob­al Sphere

This event is free of charge and it will take place at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to.

ABOUT RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT

The Respon­si­bil­i­ty to Pro­tect, also referred to as R2P, is an inter­na­tion­al prin­ci­ple coined in 2001 under the lead­er­ship of the Cana­di­an gov­ern­ment and lat­er adopt­ed at the 2005 World Sum­mit by 150 heads of gov­ern­ment. R2P states that when sov­er­eign states are unable or unwill­ing to ful­fill their respon­si­bil­i­ty to pro­tect their own pop­u­la­tions from mass atroc­i­ties such as geno­cide, eth­nic cleans­ing, crimes against human­i­ty and war crimes, the inter­na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty has the respon­si­bil­i­ty to do so. R2P is an emerg­ing norm in inter­na­tion­al rela­tions and has received much atten­tion late­ly in light of the UN Secu­ri­ty Council’s res­o­lu­tions on Libya and the ongo­ing con­flict in Syr­ia.

 

ABOUT THE HOST:

The Cana­di­an Cen­tre for R2P, based at Munk School of Glob­al Affairs, Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to, is a lead­ing Cana­di­an, non-par­ti­san and non-prof­it research orga­ni­za­tion which aims to pro­mote schol­ar­ly engage­ment and polit­i­cal imple­men­ta­tion of the R2P prin­ci­ple. (www.ccr2p.org)

  • Media reg­is­tra­tion is avail­able for all of our on-site events.
  • Media are required to present prop­er iden­ti­fi­ca­tion for accred­i­ta­tion.

For media inquiries, please con­tact:

Tina Park
Co-Founder, Cana­di­an Cen­tre for the Respon­si­bil­i­ty to Pro­tect
www.ccr2p.org | 1–416-828‑2361| executive.director@ccr2p.org