Message from the Executive Director

Welcome to the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect.

In his speech at the 2007 Program to Commemorate the 1994 Rwanda Genocide, Former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans-one of the founding architects of the responsibility to protect (R2P) principle-characterised R2P as 'the best starting point we have, or are ever likely to have in preventing and responding to genocides and mass atrocities', but cautioned that there was still much practical, political and conceptual business to attend to for R2P to have practical effect. While some of those issues will remain the terrain of politicians and peacekeepers, the proposal for the Asia Pacific Centre for R2P was born-over coffee at a University of Queensland café-in a meeting of concerned international studies researchers seeking to grapple with the conceptual and policy challenges to protecting ordinary people from large-scale humanitarian atrocities. Our proposal for the University of Queensland to foster and develop expertise on how to advance the R2P agenda gained institutional life with the support and guidance of the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences and the School of Political Science and International Studies. The Centre was officially launched in February 2008 by Former Foreign Minister of Canada, Lloyd Axworthy and Dr. Edward Luck, Special Advisor to the Secretary General on matters related to R2P. Our capacity to develop, expand and sustain these efforts was made possible by the generous funding of AusAID in mid 2009. The fact that inside government there exists such significant support for relatively 'slow-burn' research projects to prevent and respond to grave and systematic violations of human rights says a great deal both about Australia's values, and how Australia values educational research and knowledge transfer.

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd recently highlighted Australia's support for R2P as a vital element of Australia's good international citizenship, but noted that much work is to be done to move policy to practice to make a material difference for civilians afflicted by mass atrocities. The Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, a joint initiative of the University of Queensland-AusAID, is a tangible example of the Australian government's investment in building capacity to deepen the pool of understanding and expertise about the R2P concept within the Asia Pacific region and to build a stronger evidence base for policy and programs to prevent and respond to genocide and mass atrocities.

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