The LI Human Rights Committee is pleased to announce a number of high level speakers as it is preparing to debate the future of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle in less than one week.
The event, which is due to be held on International Human Rights Day (10 December) at the European Parliament in Brussels, will reflect on the ten year anniversary of the principle from two different angles.
The first panel will put into question the continued existence of the norm as the international community is struggling to resolve the on-going conflicts in Ukraine and Syria under the title Is RtoP Dead? Syria, Ukraine and Beyond.
The former Minister of Defence for Ukraine, Anatoliy Grytsenko, will provide his perspective on the consequences of Russian aggression in Ukraine for the future of international law while Khodr Habib, Member of Parliament from the Future Movement (LI full-member), will evaluate the regional repercussions of the Syrian refugee crisis.
The second panel will address the future of RtoP moving beyond the transatlantic cooperation and it will debate the role of regional cooperation and response in relation to the enactment and implementation of RtoP.
The Ambassador of Georgia to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Union, Her Excellency Natalie Sabanadze, will provide the participants with the Georgian perspective on the issue while Dr. Irwin Cotler (Liberal Party of Canada, LI full-member) will shed a light on the pros and cons of revisiting the language of the principle having participated in its original drafting.
The discussions will be enriched with perspectives from the civil society sector which will be provided by representatives of the International Collation for RtoP and the United States Institute of Peace.
There will be a working lunch dedicated specifically to advancing RtoP within the framework of LI Human Rights Committee which will be addressed by a number of MEPs from within the ALDE Group (LI full-member) including LI President of Honour and newly elected President of the ALDE Party (LI cooperating organisation) Hans Van Baalen MEP (VVD, LI full-member) and Anneli Jäätteenmäki MEP, Former Prime Minister of Finland (Suomen Keskusta, Finland)
LI President of Honour Lord John Alderdice (Liberal Democrats, LI full-member) will deliver the concluding remarks to the debate drawing on his rich experience in conflict prevention in his current role as the Director of the Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict (CRIC) at Harris Manchester College (Oxford University).
The event is being co-hosted by LI HRC Member and ALDE Party Vice-President Ilhan Kyuchyuk MEP (MRF, LI full-member), the Friedrich Naumman Foundation (FNF, LI Coooperating Organisation) and the ALDE Group (LI full-member)
A copy of the final version of the programme can be found here.
