Simon Adams on the merits of R2P, Syria and veto reform

“Our benchmark is international community failure. But I’d like to think that even though there are still mass atrocities in the world, we are certainly getting better at preventing them from happening. And when they do happen we are getting better at responding”.

Dr Simon Adams (Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect) was interviewed by Ms Josefine Ulbrich on the merits of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) so far, and why the doctrine has failed to mobilize preventive or responsive international action to the crisis in Syria. Dr Adams recognized the limitations of the current global institutional framework, “we’ve got a 20th century UN that is struggling to deal with 21st century problems”, but he also remained hopeful. He stressed that reform of the Security Council in general and the veto-right in particular, should be a priority.

Dr Adams partook in a two-day conference titled ‘The Responsibility to Protect and the Prevention of Mass Atrocoties’ hosted by The Hague Institute for Global Justice on 22 October 2014.