Below is a partial, year-by-year breakdown of the genesis of the R2P Lobby: the events, the grantors, the grantees, and some indicators of the extent of R2P's broader base of support. While extensive, this is not an exhaustive account, and it will, to the extent possible, be continually refreshed as details emerge and as the website become better organized. e.g. Some dollar amounts are missing; some grants, conferences, reports have not yet been found, etc.
A few background notes:
- R2P advocates trace the doctrine's origins to Francis Deng's conceptualization of 'sovereignty as responsibility' as part of the Carnegie Corporation-funded series conducted by the Brookings Institution in the mid-1990's. From 1990 to 1998, Carnegie gave the Brooking Institution $1.9 million for this chart-setting 'conflict resolution in Africa' program.' The seminal text that emerged from this was Deng et al's Sovereignty as responsibility : conflict management in Africa.
- Carnegie established the immediate ICISS-precursor Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict (PDC), which encompassed 101 separate projects valued at $30.2 million between 1995 and 2000. The very last PDC grant was $500,000 in seed money that went to Canada's International Development Research Center (IDRC) to establish the ICISS Secretariat. Notably, key R2P denizen Gareth Evans traces his R2P trajectory to his membership on the PDC Commission.
- September 2000; at the behest of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien announced the creation of the ICISS (International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty). With primarily liberal philanthropic foundation funding, the esteemed commission embarks on a one-year process entailing massive research, discussion, global consulting, and, above all a consensus-building campaign to once and for all re-orient the debate about humanitarian intervention. The goal was to move, as in Kosovo, from an intervention that is illegal but (as decreed by the intervenors) legitimate, to a future of interventions that are both legal and legitimate.
- In order to reach the goal of legal enshrinement of R2P, a series of benchmarks needed to be (and, to an extent, have been) achieved. This part of the process falls under the heading 'norm-building.' The chronology below can be seen as the beginnings of a blow-by-blow account of the construction of the 'norm.'
- Several 'norm entrepreneurs' who comprised the ICISS would go on to be closely involved in R2P's advocacy work both prior to the R2P's 'adoption' at the UN's World Summit in 2005, and since then. Key individuals include: Gareth Evans, Ramesh Thakur, Edward Luck, and Lloyd Axworthy. This trajectory can be partially traced by reviewing this Annotated Chronology, but will be discussed in further detail in a forthcoming paper (2010) that analyses the R2P in greater detail using a theoretical model.
- Lloyd Axworthy is regarded as one of the R2P's key architects. After leaving public political life in 2000 as the Canadian Cabinet Minister under whose portfolio the creation of the ICISS fell, he assumed a role on the ICISS. Subsequent to this he has lobbied vigorously for R2P's 'operationalization.' For the purposes of the annotated funding chronology (ie. the full extent of Axworthy's networking is examined elsewhere), it is important to note that the key foundation that has financed the growth of the R2P advocacy community is the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Since at least 2005, Axworthy has not only been a member of the MacArthur Board of Directors, he has been the Chair of the Committee (Global Security) that oversees funding for R2P projects.
- In waves, an ongoing series of promotional R2P conferences/dialogues have been funded by the Foundations ad other donors; some prior to the ICISS report's publication in late 2001, some following this and prior to the 2005 World Summit where R2P language was adopted (in part), and numerous others afterwards culminating in the January 2009 launching of the 'International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect.'
2000/01
- "Under an agreement with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, IDRC is hosting the ICISS Secretariat." In late 2000 and early 2001, the MacArthur ($500,000), Rockefeller ($150,000), "to support the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty's work to reconcile the international community's responsibility to act in the face massive violations of humanitarian norms with its responsibility to respect the sovereign rights of states"; Carnegie ($500,000), and Hewlett ($500,000) Foundations gave the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) $1,650,000 to establish the ICISS Secretariat. Canadian-based Simons Foundation provides undisclosed amount. [Ironically in light of R2P elites insistence that the very term 'R2P' was intended to cleanse the term 'humanitarian intervention' from the discourse. MacArthur's grant description for the ICISS project says, "To establish the International Commission on Humanitarian Intervention."]
- Summer of 2001 :Rockefeller Foundation, undisclosed amount to fund a PUGWASH ICISS discussion meeting.
2002
- Department of Foreign Affairs/Canadian International Development Agency, undisclosed amount to Project Ploughshares seminar on ICISS report
2003
- MacArthur gives DFAIT $300,000 for "In support of regional meetings in Africa on the Responsibility to Protect."
- MacArthur gives (Gareth Evans') International Crisis Group $1 million for R2P-related "In support of field research and policy prescription in imminent or ongoing conflict situations."
- MacArthur gives the International Peace Academy (now, International Peace Institute) $250,000 "For research on implementing the Responsibility to Protect in the United Nations system."
- The Fund for Peace, in October's Neighbors on Alert: Regional Views on Humanitarian Intervention. Summary Report of the Regional Responses to Internal War Program," state, "With the generous assistance of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Stanley Foundation, The Fund for Peace has spent the last two years systematically probing views on region-appropriate criteria for military intervention in humanitarian crises." In conjunction with this, "The Fund for Peace incorporated the ICISS report into its regional conferences...The principles emanating from The Responsibility to Protect served as a backdrop to all the conferences in the program's first phase."
2004
- Rockefeller gives $1 million to Columbia University (then, headed by Ed Luck) "toward the costs of The Security Council Report"
- MacArthur gives $125,000 to the Henry L. Stimson Center to "develop military doctrine for protection," under auspices of "Future of Peace Operations Program; Increasing Global Preparedness to Protect Civilians from Mass Atrocities
- The Ford Foundation ($250,000), Carnegie ($250,000) MacArthur ($150,000), Rockefeller ($100,000) give to the UN's High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change. This report included support for R2P which was seen as a crucial step toward its adoption in 2005. Gareth Evans' presence on the Panel was instrumental. Headed by Stanford U's Stephen Stedman, the HLP helped "gather worldwide support for an international security agenda to propose at the U.N. world leaders’ summit in September 2005." Final report was titled "A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility." The report itself also acknowledges financial support from Stanley Foundation, the IPA, Hewlett, the UN Foundation, Stanford U, and numerous governments including Canada. Among the key panel members were Gareth Evans and Brent Scowcroft.
- MacArthur (Nov) gives Project Ploughshares $100,000 "In support of a regional meeting in southern Africa on “The Responsibility to Protect” report and a briefing for decision makers in the African Union." DFAIT gives same project undisclosed amount. "These consultations included a number of bilateral meetings with senior governmental, non-governmental, and military stakeholders in selected capitals in each sub-region, as well as sub-regional conferences on The Responsibility to Protect in Nairobi, Bamako, and Pretoria." Project Ploughshares writes "With funding from the MacArthur Foundation, and in partnership with Africa Peace Forum (APFO) and the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA), we held a series of meetings in February 2005 and a Southern Africa regional consultation in April 2005 on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P)." "Similar consultations were held in East and West Africa in 2004." "Following the Southern Africa consultation, we produced Ploughshares Working Paper 05-5, The Responsibility to Protect: East, West, and Southern African Perspectives on Preventing and Responding to Humanitarian Crises" "We also assisted the WCC in preparing a resolution on R2P for consideration at the WCC Assembly in February 2006 in Brazil. In October 2005 the Commission on Justice and Peace of the Canadian Council of Churches (CCC) hosted a forum on R2P facilitated by Project Ploughshares and Kairos." We are particularly grateful to The Simons Foundation in Vancouver for their generous support. Grants were also received from the Canadian International Development Agency, Foreign Affairs Canada, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation."
- DFAIT commissions paper by the Henry L. Stimson Center's Victoria Holt, '"THE RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT: CONSIDERING THE OPERATIONAL CAPACITY FOR CIVILIAN PROTECTION,' which says "This paper is the result of research conducted for the Stimson Center’s project on Operational Capacity for Civilian Protection, which was supported with a grant from the Responsibility to Protect Unit, Foreign Affairs Canada. "
- In a 2007 publication, "Safeguarding Civilians: Delivering on the Responsibility to Protect in Africa." IPPR. 2007,' the authors write about a related R2P project tat is funded by Canada: "n September 2004, the Chairperson of the AU Commission, Alpha
Oumar Konare, appointed Mame Madior Boye, former Prime Minister of the Republic of Senegal, as his Special Representative for the Promotion of the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflicts. This is a four-year project, funded by the Canadian government. The Special Representative is mandated to help strengthen the AU’s institutional capacity to promote civilian protection..."
- Canada hosts event commemorating 10th anniversary of Rwandan genocide. Acc. to a media Q & A obtained via ATIP (and written by Heidi Hulan) "The event will focus on the the principle of a 'responsibility to protect'." "Canada is committed to leading international follow-up efforts on [R2P]." During the meeting "The [R2P] report will be highlighted prominently."
- Genocide Intervention Network founded in fall of 2004, will become prominent in R2P circles. Board members include former Clinton-era Dep. Asst Sec for Democracy, Human Rights & Labour (Bennett Freeman), CFR member Holly Burkhalter, previously named to USIP B.O.D. by Clinton; Anthony Lake, Clinton's former Nat. Sec. Advisor, etc. Trevor Neilson, previously of Gates Foundation, member of CFR and the Clinton Global Initiative; John Predergrast, former Clintonite and ICG; David Scheffer, former counsel to Albright, NSC, CFR; Gayle Smith, Center for American Progress, Brookings, NSC, USAID, CFR, Oxfam, CGI; Samantha Power; GI-Net has been endorsed by Lloyd Axworthy, Maj. Bret Beardsley, former assistant to Canadian General (turned Senator) Romeo Dallaire; Dallaire himself; Alex de Waal; Gareth Evans, among others. GI-Net incorporates R2P discourse into its organizing.
- December 2004, International Peace Academy hosts "IPA Special Event on the Report of the Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change."... "Dr. [Stephen] Stedman pointed out that the panel explicitly reaffirmed the importance of the General Assembly by asking it to adopt a comprehensive counter-terrorism convention including a definition of terrorism, to endorse the norm of the Responsibility to Protect and to reaffirm long-standing rules on the use of force."
- The same month, International Peace Academy hosts a conference, "The Iraq Crisis and World Order: Structural and Normative Challenges." One panel was titled, 'Iraq and the Responsibility to Protect' with Professor Ramesh Thakur. Other R2P advocates in attendance included Richard Falk and CUNY's Thomas Weiss, who ran the ICISS research unit.
2005
- MacArthur gives key R2P advocacy organization Security Council Report $1.5 million over 2 years
- Hewlett Foundation gives Security Council Report $750,000 over the same period.
- Rockefeller gives SCR $340,000;
- Government of Norway and Canada give SCR $1.5 million and $600,000 respectively, over three years
Note, re: above, from SCR: Security Council Report's five donors have committed three years of funding to the organisation for 2005-2007. The MacArthur Foundation and the Norwegian Government have granted $500,000 each per year. The Rockefeller Foundation granted $340,000 in 2005 and $330,000 for the two following years. The Hewlett Foundation granted $250,000 per year and the Canadian Government $200,000 per year. Each of the five principal donors are represented on the board, which is chaired by MacArthur's Jonathan Fanton.
- Carnegie gives the North-South Institute $25,000 'toward research and dissemination on external intervention in states at risk.'
- Ford Foundation gives the Institute for Security Studies (Johannesburg, SA) $180,000 for 'the Responsibility to Protect project to examine mechanisms for preventing & responding to large-scale conflicts & human rights abuses & for a case study on the African Union Mission in Sudan.'
- April 22-24 2005, The Stanley Foundation hosts "Building Consensus for 'Our Shared Responsibility.'" Arden Conference Center. Harriman, New York. R2P key part of discussion involving Ed Luck.
- DFAIT gives undisclosed amount to the creation of the World Federalist Movement's 'Responsibility to Protect - Engaging Civil Society' (later to become the International Coalition for R2P) "aimed at increasing awareness, deepening debate and building a coalition of support for R2P principles among non-governmental organizations." The responsibilitytoprotect.org website is a virtual R2P hub; R2P-CS also has an extensive e-mail network.
- Together with Carnegie, DFAIT, and the Netherlands fund The Fund for Peace 'Regional Responses to Internal War Program. Carnegie lists $499,900 in 2005 and $500,000 in 2007 for this project. This includes the report 'Taft, Patricia and Jason Ladnier. 2005. The Capacity to Protect: The Role of Civil Society. The Fund for Peace. Washington, D.C. July 2005,' which " contains the findings of the most
extensive research conducted globally on the use of force in humanitarian intervention and the emerging norm of the responsibility to protect civilians."
- DFAIT funds (through to end of 2007) North-South Institute's 'Delivering on The Responsibility to Protect: A Policy Research Project on African Regional Security,' project. "Examining how R2P principles can be operationalized in Africa."
Thirty experts from a range of institutions gathered in Ottawa, Canada, on May 30, 2005, for a policy roundtable titled “Delivering on the Responsibility to Protect in Africa”. Co-hosted by The North- South Institute (NSI-Canada), the Centre d’Alerte et de Prévention des Conflits (CENAP-Burundi), the Development Policy Management Forum (DPMF-Ethiopia) and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS- South Africa),...The roundtable and related outputs were made possible by financial support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Foreign Affairs Canada, as well as core funding to NSI from the Canadian International Development Agency.
- Aspen Atlantic Group holds 4-day workshop in Vancouver, "Themes such as the "Responsibility to Protect" and the need for democratic nations to take a leading role at the UN were possible areas of consensus which the group examined. Allan Rock, Canada's Ambassador to the UN, and Jane Holl Lute, Assistant Secretary General, UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, were among the keynote speakers.." Panel Included Responsibility to Prevent: UN Reform, the Commission on Human Rights and the International Criminal Court.
- November 2005. Bi-partisan task force chaired by Newt Gingrich and George Mitchell, the United States Institute for Peace Task Force on the United Nations, endorses R2P.
2006
- DFAIT funds Henry L. Stimson Center for 'The Responsibility to Protect: Considering the Operational Capacity for Civilian Protection' project, undisclosed
- Holt and Berkman of the Henry L. Stimson Center publish ' The Impossible Mandate? Military Preparedness, The Responsibility to Protect and Modern Peace Operations,' which, "could not have been produced without the generous support of the Human Security Program, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, which sponsored the original research and work that led to this book." Many individual Canadians are thanked. The book itself "builds on the work of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) and its December 2001 report,
The Responsibility to Protect." "In an effort to publicize the gaps identified by this book, the Stimson Center and Foreign Affairs Canada sponsored book launches in Washington, Ottowa, New York, Brussels, and London."
- DFAIT/CIDA give undisclosed amount to the United Nations Association of Canada (UNAC) for study on R2P and Darfur. Published in March 2007, - DFAIT, CIDA, Veterans Affairs Canada, the DND Security and Defence Forum, and the RCMP are acknowledged as providing "support" for Maria Banda's paper, "The Responsibility to Protect: Moving the Agenda Forward." One of the key recommendations, eventually adopted in early 2009, was the creation of a "transnational R2P coalition." Banda called for R2P to become "increasingly a part of the global public consciousness," and that " The next step is to find a permanent “home” for R2P in the international institutional structure."
- DFAIT's Human Security Program funds a co-North-South Institute and IPPR "high-level symposium in Addis Ababa [that] was part of a joint initiative to examine the opportunities and challenges for operationalising the Responsibility to Protect in Africa." Yielded a report by Baranyi, Stephen and David Mepham. 2006. "Report from a High-Level Symposium on 'Enhancing capacities to protect civilians and build sustainable peace in Africa'." IPPR, North-South Institute. Addis Ababa. DFAIT lists $105,400 grant (06/1/3) " to develop policy recommendations for building the capacity of international and African regional organizations to implement a "Responsibility to Protect" agenda in Africa."
- Related to above, DFAIT and Ford funded the Institute for Security Studies' "Project on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) This project was run as part of a partnership between the ISS, the UK-based Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) and the Canadian-based North-South Institute." See: Institute for Security Studies. 2007. Annual Review 2006. ISS: Pretoria, South Africa. 2007. DFAIT lists a $98,709 grant to ISS to "produce a expert report on operationalizing the Responsibility to Protect in Africa, building upon the findings of two High Level Symposia and an Experts Roundtable." This was also funded by the Open Society Foundation and the Rockefellers Brothers Fund.
- Above also included a seminar, '"Strengthening political will for intervention to protect civilians in African crises," organized by IPPR, held at the Canadian-gov funded Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra, Ghana. KAIPTC website says that the syposium was " part of a series of joint initiatives between ISS, ippr and the Canadian-based North-South Institute (NSI) to explore prospects for executing the principle of responsibility to protect in Africa."
- DFAIT lists a related grant to ISS for $109,824 "to complement the African Union's (AU) effort to establish a continental Early Warnings System as one of the instruments that will assist the AU in responding to situations of potential conflict." The establishment of early warning capabilities is a key talking point of R2P advocates.
- DFAIT gives $500,000 to Switzerland Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs "to support the work of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in developing a protection standby capacity (PROCAP) of up to 100 qualified and experienced protection officers."
- DFAIT gives $242,840 to OCHA-New York " to promote the protection of civilians’ agenda and develop tools to ensure that civilians are better protected."
- Rockefeller renews support for SCR with a $660,000 grant "objective information and analysis about the United Nations Security Council and the issues on its existing and future agendas"
- Ford Foundation gives the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) $150,000 which covered costs for a report on R2P and Darfur and another report, 'Delivering on R2P in Africa,' thru to 2008. (In May 2006, IPPR held a symposium "in collaboration with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) to facilitate a debate on civilian roles in peacekeeping operations." In the same press release, IPPR notes they were "currently undertaking a major research project on how to operationalise the principles of a ‘Responsibility to Protect’ in the international system." Also funded by the Government of Canada for 'research project on the Responsibility to Protect in Africa,' of which the report 'Darfur: The Responsibility to Protect. London, UK: Institute for Public Policy Research. 2006.' "forms a part." Canada, along with Sweden, Norway, and Ford are also thanked in the 2007 report, '. "Safeguarding Civilians: Delivering on the Responsibility to Protect in Africa." IPPR. 2007.' Individuals thanked for feedback are Gareth Evans, Oxfam's Ed Cairns, among many other R2P networkers.
- MacArthur gives the Aspen Strategy Group $158,000 for 'meeting of former foreign ministers and high officials on "recommendations for implementing the Responsibility to Protect in Darfur, Sudan." Discussants included Andrew Natsios, Madeleine Albright, Lloyd Axworthy, Gareth Evans, among others. The Aspen Strategy Group's Chairmen at the time were 'smart power' advocate Joseph Nye Jr and Brent Scowcroft. Key group members include prominent U.S. interventionists Madeleine Albright, Dick Armitage, Robert Blackwill, Ashton B. Carter, Richard Danzig, John M. Deutch, Michelle Flournoy, Richard Haass, Chuck Hagel, Richard Lugar, Susan Rice, Anne-Marie SLaughter, James B. Steinberg, Strobe Talbott, Fareed Zakaria and Philip D. Zelikow. (see above, May 2005)
- DFAIT gives $250,000 to SCR, Inc. "To provide timely, accurate and objective reporting and analysis on Security Council activities via monthly forecast reports, in-depth studies, and electronic updates."
- Carnegie Foreign Policy Conference, 'MANAGING U.S. DOMINANCE,' June 20, 2006, included a breakout session. 'Stopping atrocities by whatever means necessary: intergovernmental organizations, regional organizations, or coalitions of the willing?' "taking as a basis of discussion the assumption that the U.S. accepts and must implement its “responsibility to protect” populations threatened by these human crises," moderated by the Hoover Institution's Tod Lindberg. "The group will explore international and domestic challenges to these approaches, and lay out potential strategies to overcome these challenges through domestic coalition building."
- R2P Coalition's Richard Cooper and Juliette Voinov Kohler publish "The 'Responsibility to Protect:' The New Global Moral Compact." Argument: " We too, the American People, must embrace our Nation’s “responsibility to protect” populations from hell on earth."
- Harvard's Sarah Sewell, who helped write the U.S. Army and Marine Corps' Counterinsurgency Field Manual (FM 3-24), moderates panel in the ECOSOC Chamber, "Human Security: The Responsibility to Protect and the Peacebuilding Commission." Sept 7, 2006; United Nations Department of Public Information. "Unfinished Business: Effective Prtnerships for Human Security and Sustainable Development." Final Report of the 59th Annual DPI/NGO Conference. United Nations, New York 6-8 September 2006. Included Juan Mendez and Canadian Carolyn McAskie as panelists.
- Chicago-based R2P Coalition is born. The convenor of the coalition is Richard Cooper, a CCGA board member and the Int'l Advisory Committee of the ICG. A conservative republican, he has donated generously to Rahm Emanuel's Our Common Values PAC. An offshoot of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (formerly named Chicago Council on Foreign Relations), on whose board First Lady Michelle Obama and President Obama's key donor Lewis Manilow aong others sits, the R2P Coalition's Steering Committee includes Gareth Evans, Susan Mayer, Dean U of Chicago, William Pace, WFM, HRW's Ken Roth, Paul Rutgers, Exec. Director Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago, Adele Simmons. Advisory Board includes Cherif Bassiouni, CCGA's Marshall Bouton, David Scheffer, Northwestern, Ruth Messinger, President of American Jewish World Service, MacArthur's Mary Page, and Glria White-Hammond, One Million Voices for Darfur, and Obama's eventual cabinet member, Anne-Marie Slaughter.
- November 15-17 2006 R2P Coalition hosts conference on R2P that Cooper later characterizes as, "kind of an insiders game to discuss and decide what some of the elements of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine should be so that the political extremists wouldn't get a hold of it before considered people were able to define it." Conference report produced in 2007, 'Kohler, Juliette Voinov, Rapporteur. The Responsibility to Protect: A Strategy for Engaging America. Chicago, IL: Chicago Council on Global Affairs. 2007.' Kohler, Juliette Voinov. 2006. The Chicago Council on Global Affairs. 2007.
Report downloadable from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCGA) "Conference co-sponsored by the CGA, the R2P Coalition, the ICG, Depaul U's International Human Rights Law Institute, and Northwestern U's Center for International Human Rights." .. "The 2008 presidential election provides an opportunity to bring this new norm to light and enter it into the national discourse on American foreign policy. Key participants included Lloyd Axworthy (keynote), Gareth Evans (Keynote), Marshall Bouton, President of CCFA, MoveOn's Ben Brandzel, CCGA's VP, Rachel Bronson, Simon Chersterman, Cooper, Berkeley HR Center's Camille Crittendon (who would organize later Berkeley conf), WFM's R2P-CS's Nicole Deller (later to join GCR2P); The Aspen Institute's David Devlin-Foltz, Lee Feinstein, GI-NEt's Mark Hanis, Canada's Heidi Hulan, SCR's Colin Keating, MacArthur's Mary Page, Director, Human Rights and International Justice, Adele Simmons (Global Phil PArtnership), Nancy Soderberg, Donald Steinberg, Simmon's eventual co-author April Donnellan of GPP, MacArthur's Steven Gerber, Program Officer,
2007
- January 2007, the Council on Foreign Relations publishes Lee Feinstein's "Darfur and Beyond: What is Needed to Prevent Mass Atrocities."Foreword by Richard N. Haass. Feinstein thanks the report's advisory board, chaired by Edward Luck, also including Morton H. Halperin, Joshua Muravchik, Samantha Power, Peter W. Singer, James Traub, and Peter Ackerman, Senator Clinton assistant Andrew J. Shapiro; Mark W. Lippert, Office of Senator Obama, and Joanna Weschler of SCR. "Finally, there would be no discussion of the responsibility to protect without the pioneering work of Gareth Evans, who has been and continues to be the driving force behind this important principle." ... Concludes, "Universal adoption of the responsibility to protect has begun to remove the classical excuses for doing nothing in the face of mass atrocities. What is needed now is the capacity and political will to back it up."
- DFAIT gives McGill U, $20,000 for the 'Global Conference on the Prevention of Genocide' (Oct. 07) featuring R2P. (Describing the grant, DFAIT writes that despite the UN's adoption of R2P in 2005, "much work remains in promoting the effective translation of this commitment into concrete action in actual conflict or mass violence situations." In particular the Glyn Berry Program provided the support. http://geo.international.gc.ca/cip-pic/cip-pic/humanrightsprojects2007-08-en.aspx)
- DFAIT gives the Henry L. Stimson Center a $180,789 grant to "convene a workshop bringing together military and civilian leaders to identify select examples of past successes and failures of missions with a civilian protection mandate. The project will also engage in a scenario/gaming exercise to inform thinking on new operational strategies for civilian protection."
This workshop took place in Accra, Ghana, at the Kofi Annan Centre. See corresponding conference report notes, by Holt and J. Smith, "Stimson DFAIT Expert Military Workshop Notes."
- DFAIT gives the International Peace Institute $83,511 for symposium on R2P with the South Africa-based Center for Conflict Resolution in Cape Town, “The Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities and the Responsibility to Protect: Challenges for the United Nations and the International Community in the 21st Century.” Referring to the new Special Advisor on R2P: "The Glyn Berry Program supported the Special Advisor in his efforts to build greater consensus and understanding about R2P, by contributing to the first in a series of ground-breaking meetings with key academics, decision-makers, practitioners and government officials. This first meeting, co-sponsored by the Centre for Conflict Resolution (CCR) at the University of Cape Town from 13-15 December 2007, involved experts from around the world, including from Government, the UN and the African Union, and consisted of 11 panel discussions on challenges and opportunities for the operationalization of R2P." This yielded the publication Davis, Rachel, Benjamin Majekodunmi and Judy Smith-Hohn. "Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities and the Responsibility to Protect: Challenges for the UN and the International Community in the 21st Century." The Responsibility to Protect Occasional Paper Series. International Peace Institute June 2008. (see below, June 2008)
- DFAIT's Glyn Berry Program gives the newly created Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P) $125,000 seed money because "much remains to be done to effectively implement the concept of the “responsibility to protect” to stop genocide and mass atrocities. " GCR2P is described as "an international think tank/research institute which is dedicated to promoting the universal acceptance and effective operational implementation of the responsibility to protect norm by bringing together competence and capacity from both North and South, and by supporting NGOs, governments and international institutions in being more effective advocates of R2P and in meeting their R2P responsibilities."
- DFAIT's GBP gives $96,428 to United Nations—Office of the Special Representative for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities (O/SRSG) for creation of a Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities Database. (O/SRSG) is described as "an important early-warning mechanism that could alert the UN and Security Council (SC) of emerging R2P scenarios, provide recommendations for appropriate responses and facilitate diplomatic efforts at prevention."
- In April 2007, DANIDA funded "a policy advisory group meeting in Somerset West, Western Cape, on 23 and 24 April 2007 on the theme of “Africa’s Responsibility to Protect,” yielding the report Africa's Responsibility to Protect: Policy Advisory Group Seminar Report. The report's authors also thank " the other funders of its Africa programme" including CIDA, FES, Rockefeller's Brother's Fund, Rockefeller Foundation, and Ford fund "
- The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), partnered with the Center for American Progress, the International Crisis Group, the World Federalist Movement, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, Genocide Intervention Network, STAND, organize the Berkeley R2P Conference (March 13-14 2007); undisclosed amount. CGI notes under "results" "Launched the Responsibility to Protect Campaign on the West Coast by convening the “Stopping Mass Atrocities” conference at UC Berkeley, which examined the framework of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine against genocide and other mass atrocities and advanced R2P from principle to practice." "Commitment: Stopping Mass Atrocities: An International Conference on Responsibility to Protect (R2P)" Conference participants included many of the leading lights of the R2P lobby. The HR Center lists the following: "Conference partners include: Amnesty International, Center for American Progress, Consulate General of Canada, International Crisis Group, Progressive Students of Faith, San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition, STAND-UC Berkeley, World Affairs Council of Northern California, World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy." The following institutions were represented on the conference's various panels: the R2P Coalition, Human Rights Watch, Government of Canada, CIGI, International Crisis Group, Council on Foreign Relations, Henry L. Stimson Center, UN, GI-NEt, World Federalist Movement, ICTJ. Keynote addresses by Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire & Gareth Evans.
- Berkeley's HR Center's 2007 annual report notes how "the conference was made possible by a grant from Humanity United," and, among its general "funders" lists MacArthur, the Open Society Institute, and partners include the Genocide Intervention Network and Human Rights Watch.
- In October 2007, Berkeley Human Rights Center publishes report The Responsibility to Protect (R2P): Moving the Campaign Forward. " This report highlights four highly respected international NGOs that have taken the lead in R2P activism: the World Federalist Movement (WFM), Oxfam International, Human Rights Watch (HRW), and the International Crisis Group (ICG). Additionally, in the United States the Chicago-based R2P Coalition has worked to create a community of R2P activists and advocates committed to educating key stakeholders and the public about R2P." ... "For better or worse, many believe that R2P’s success or failure will hang on the extent to which Canada, as a middle power, can spearhead a movement to garner widespread support....As a strong Western country that lacks both the colonial heritage of European countries or the U.S.’s reputation as the global hegemon, Canada is well-positioned to bring other middle powers on board by dispelling concerns that R2P is just another ruse for Western imperial ambitions."
- MacArthur gives Henry L. Stimson Center $250,000 "to translate aspirations for protecting civilians from mass atrocities and genocide into preparation for concrete, effective and sustainable action (over two years)."
- MacArthur gives Henry L. Stimson additional $250,000 for 'developing military doctrine for protection'
- MacArthur gives the World Federalist Movement's Institute for Global Policy $150,000 "in support of the Responsibility to Protect-Engaging Civil Society project to disseminate and exchange information on the Responsibility to Protect."
- Rockefeller and IDRC fund Centre for Conflict Resolution's R2P Seminar, undisclosed amount.
- June 12, 2007, Council on Foreign Relations hosts discussion on "Preventing Mass Atrocities." Clinton hanger-on and R2P advocate Lee Feinstein moderates a discussion with Louise Arbour.
- MacArthur gives SCR $2 million "to monitor the functioning of the UN Security Council" over 3 years
- September 4-6, 2007, the Fund for Peace (with "support" from Ford and the Canadian Center for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)) held a conference in Istanbul, Turkey yielding the 'Bosphorus Consensus Declaration on Protecting Civilians in Conflict in the Middle East.' "The conference was a follow-up to the work of the Fund for Peace Regional Responses to Internal War Project," which was focused on R2P. One of the recommendations called for 'the Group of Elders' to take "a lead in promoting the protection of civilians in conflict," which they have done through promotion of R2P.
- DFAIT gives SCR $200,000 "to a stronger, more responsive, more accountable and more effective Security Council by improving the availability of information, analysis and reports on the issues confronting the UN Security Council, UN Missions and other government entities, UN Secretariat, NGOs and the general public."
- November 13, 2007, USIP-sponsored Genocide Prevention Task Force created. Co-chaired by Madeleine Albright and former Def. Sec. William Cohen, The Task Force includes: Senator John Danforth, Senator Tom Daschle, Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, Mr. Michael Gerson, Secretary Dan Glickman, Secretary Jack Kemp, Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, Ambassador Tom Pickering, Ms. Julia Taft, Mr. Vin Weber and General Anthony Zinni. Among the 'expert group leads' were Henry Stimson's Victoria Holt (Military Intervention), CFR's Paul Stares (Preventive Diplo), and Hoover's Tod Lindberg (League of Dem's, Stanley connected)
- December 5-7 2007. R2P Coalition and the Northwestern U Law School host R2P conference, yielding The Responsibility to Protect and the International Criminal Court: America’s New Priorities." Conference Report. (published March 2008). [Co-sponsored by American Bar Foundation, The Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy, and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.] "New civil society allies should be enlisted to promote R2P and the ICC, including faith and religious organizations, student groups, labor unions, foreign affairs institutes, journalists, and political party institutes." Conference participants included Cooper, Samantha Power (keynote) , Gen. Wesley Clark (keynote), a number of retired military officers, Edward Luck, among others.
2008
- Global Center for R2P (GCR2P) established, February 14, 2008. Welcomed by Ban ki Moon, many R2P luminaries would attend inaugural. As GCR2P describes, the Center is the result of collaboration between "the International Crisis Group, Human Rights Watch, Oxfam International, Refugees International, and the [WFM's] Institute for Global Policy. It is supported financially by the governments of Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Rwanda and the UK, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Open Society Institute and Scott and Elena Lawlor..." The head of the GCR2P is W. Andy Knight, who was also recently named to the IDRC Board of Directors. Prior to the ICISS while he was a professor at the U of Alberta, Knight ran the Global Governance Journal with Tom Weiss, which was a key forum for the germination of R2P concepts. The director of GCR2P's programs is journalist/author James Truab, who also specializes in writing about polyarchy promotion. The list of GCR2P's individual supporters and 'patrons' is long.
- GCR2P affiliate organizations include The Asia-Pacific Centre for Responsibility to Protect (R2P Asia-Pacific); • Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior (FRIDE); • The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC); • Norwegian Institute for International Affairs (NUPI), with others "coming soon." All of these centers have hosted roundtables, discussions, etc.
- Cyclone Nargis sparks debate in global media about R2P stemming from high profile invocations by French, UK, EU, US diplomats. Many/most R2P advocates chimed in (including RAND, Henry Stimson, ; the occasion provided for the GCR2P to inaugurate itself on the debate).
- The WFM's R2PCS "Project Background" statement reads (as of 2008) "The R2PCS project has received the generous support of the Governments of Canada and the United Kingdom, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and individual donations."
- April 9-11 2008 Aspen Institute hosts the 2008 Global Philanthropy Forum Conference, "Human Security, Human Rights and the Shared Responsibility to Protect: A conversation between elders and emerging leaders." ""A project of the World Affairs Council of Northern California, the Global Philanthropy Forum aims to build a community of donors and social investors committed to international causes, and to inform, enable and enhance the strategic nature of their work." This huge, web-casted event featured many new emerging as well as existing R2P advocates. Desmond Tutu, a full plenary session including Gareth Evans, Adelle Simmons, and Samantha Power. "This afternoon, we will close this quite remarkable conference really focusing on R2P. ...Where we can go from here...In this century and this decade, the concept of R2P has taken hold and we have experienced an extraordinary paradigm shift." Said Adelle Simmons: "I should just mention that the [ISISS] which Gareth chaired received support from Carnegie, MacArthur, Ford, a number of Foundations. The Canadian government provided the leadership, but if we had waited until the Foreign Minister had to get approval for funding all of this from the Canadian government we'd still be talking about it today. So that's the quick action; the freedom that philanthropy has."
- June 2008, Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on International Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs and International Environmental Protection does study on 'International Disaster Assistance: Policy Options.' ICG's Mark Scheinder says, "In specific response to the committee’s question, yes, the Responsibility to Protect is a
fundamental element of a multilateral framework to prevent and respond to mass
atrocities." ... "Secretary Ban-Ki-moon, in naming my distinguished fellow panelist,
Professor Edward Luck, his special advisor on R2P, emphasized the importance of making it “operational” and in that context, hopefully, this hearing will advance that effort. Luck and USAID's Kunder, and CFR's Stewart Patrick present s well.
- June 2008, IPI and CCR published the DFAIT-funded Davis, Rachel, Benjamin Majekodunmi and Judy Smith-Hohn. "Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities and the Responsibility to Protect: Challenges for the UN and the International Community in the 21st Century." The Responsibility to Protect Occasional Paper Series. International Peace Institute June 2008. Signed by CCR's Adekeye Adebajo, Francis M. Deng and Ed Luck. One series of recommendations included, "There is a need for improved coordination, more consistent messages by the RtoP advocacy community in particular, and more outreach efforts to developing countries. An emerging global network of supportive NGOs and other civil society actors may help address these pressing needs."
- Government of Canada funds OCHR, DPI panel 'realizing R2P' with UNSG's new representative for R2P, Edward Luck, whose work is housed in the International Peace Institute, amount undisclosed
- Canadian International Council (Canada's newly created sister organization to the Council on Foreign Relations) funds lecture by Ramesh Thakur, 'What Next for R2P,' amount undisclosed.
- International Crisis Group and World Federalist Movement help fund the Cardozo University R2P conference, amount undisclosed. Key conference takes place March 10-11, 2008.
- MacArthur Foundation gives "to establish" the GCR2P via City University of New York, Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies $450,000 in seed money over three years.
- Open Society, World Federalist Movement, and the governments of Norway, Belgium, Australia, Netherlands, and Rwanda announced as GCR2P donors, undisclosed amounts.
- MacArthur gives the Office of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Prevention of Genocide (Francis Deng) $231,100 for operations.
- MacArthur gives $100,000 to Kofi Annan for the R2P-related 'MacArthur Award for International Justice" in March 2008. In his acceptance speech, Annan said, " The Foundation has worked with governments, the UN and other actors of civil society to mobilize support for international justice. These efforts have helped to change our understanding of international law. Sovereignty should no longer be seen as a privilege but as a very heavy responsibility. Every State has to protect its people." In describing the rationale behind the award, MacArthur states, "In selecting Mr. Annan, the Foundation’s Board cited his role in the establishment of the International Criminal Court...The Board also noted Mr. Annan’s leadership in developing the principle of the Responsibility to Protect. [MacArthur Foundation. "Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Receives MacArthur Award for International Justice." Announcements 20 march 2008.]
- MacArthur gives the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCGA) $100,000 to carry out their annual Public Opinion Study. One focus of the study was R2P: "A 67 percent majority of Americans think the UN Security Council has the responsibility to authorize the use of military force to protect people from severe human rights violations such as genocide, even against the will of their own government."
- MacArthur gives the International Peace Institute $230,000 for "For research on implementing the Responsibility to Protect in the United Nations system."
- On May 12, the International Peace Institute held a lunchtime policy discussion of the basis, scope, and prospects for the responsibility to protect, as seen from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Moderated by Edward Luck, the event included H.E. Mr. Maged A. Abdelaziz, Permanent Representative of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the United Nations; H.E. Mr. Vanu Gopala Menon Permanent Representative of the Republic of Singapore to the United Nations; H.E. Mr. Heraldo Muñoz Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations.
- May 28, 2008, from GI-Net press release: "In a historic display of solidarity, Senators Clinton, McCain and Obama have issued a joint statement demanding an end to the violence in Darfur and pledging to pursue this goal with unstinting resolve once elected."
- May 30-31, 2008, Harvard's John Kennedy School of Government hosts conference, "Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing: Triggers for R2P." Co-Chairs of the conference were Sarah Sewell, former Clinton now Obama official, and Robert Rotberg. "The group discussed the basis for R2P and whether quantitative and/or qualitative measures can be useful when determining if and when the lines of human rights violations have been crossed."
- Hewlett gives $1 million to the SCR
- The GCR2P and World Federalist Movement give undisclosed amount toward the inaugural conference of the Asia-Paciic R2P Center, affiliated with the GCR2P.
- Stanley Foundation gives undisclosed amount for R2P stocktaking conference and report. Edward Luck is a member of the Stanley Board of Directors
- MacArthur gives America Abroad Media $150,000 in support of two one-hour international affairs public radio programs: "Responsibility to Protect: International Intervention and Crimes Against Humanity" and "The U.S. and the International Criminal Court." (2008)
- MacArthur gives World Federalist Movement - Institute for Global Policy (New York, New York) $500,000 in support of a Global NGO Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect (over three years). (2008)
- Council on Foreign Relations sponsors Madeleine Albright's Genocide Prevention Task Force.
- November 2008. Brookings Institution publishes Gareth Evans' book, The Responsibility to Protect: Ending Mass Atrocities Once and for All. Evans thanks Brookings for "getting this book conceived, written, promoted, and published in close to record speed."
2009
- Polity Press publishes Alex J. Bellamy's Responsibility to Protect. Bellamy is the editor of the newly created Global Responsibility to Protect Journal. On the GRPJ editorial board are Lloyd Axworthy, Brookings' Roberta Cohen, ICG's Evans, UBC's Paul Evans, Victoria Holt, original ICISS research team member Don Hubert, former Harvard professor turned Canadian politician and Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff, SCR's Colin Keating, U of Alberta/IDRC/GCR2P's W. Andy Knight, Edward Luck, William Maley, former Canadian ambassador Allan Rock, Pierre Schori, FRIDE, Ramesh Thakur, Thomas G. Weiss, Nicholas Wheeler. "Global Responsibility to Protect is the premier journal for the study and practice of the responsibility to protect (R2P)....Global Responsibility to Protect promotes a universal understanding of R2P and efforts to realize it, through encouraging critical debate and diversity of opinion, and to acquaint a broad readership of scholars, practitioners, students and analysts with the principle and its operationalization."
- First two issues of R2P Journal published.
- Palgrave Macmillan completes tri fecta of new R2P advocacy books by publishing Richard H. Cooper and Juliette Voinov Kohler (eds.) Responsibility to Protect: The Global Moral Compact for the 21st Century. Foreword by Samantha Power, contributors include Gareth Evans, Cherif Bassiouni, Susan Mayer, Aaron Dorfman and Ruth Messinger, David Scheffer, Kenneth Roth, Herbert F. Weiss, Mary Page, William F. Schulz, Adele Simmons and April Donnellan, Lee Feinstein and Erica De Bruin, Joe Volk and Scott Stedjan, William Pace and Deller of WFM, and Cooper & Kohler.
- Carnegie gives The Graduate Center of the City University of New York $350,000 "For a research project on local perspectives on the need for international intervention to protect civilians from mass murder and other atrocities, as reflected in the doctrine of the 'responsibility to protect'"
- In March 2009, America Abroad Media produced/aired an hour-long, largely uncritical and promotional audio documentary about R2P. Ford, Carnegie, MacArthur, Draper Richards, Henry Luce, Hewlett, Smith Richardson, Sophia and William Casey, Starr, and Stuart Family Foundations, along with Exon Mobil and the Ploughshares Fund are donors. AAM Board members include CSP's David Abshire, Dick Armitage, Zbigniew Brzezinski, CFR's Richard Haass, Sen Chuck Hagel, Lee Hamilton, Martin Indyk, Anthony Lake, Sen. Richard Lugar, Thomas Pickering, Dennis Ross, Brent Scowcroft, Strobe Talbott, Vin Weber, James Woolsey, Philip Zelikow, among other luminaries.