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The Government of the State of Qatar, in association with the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), co-hosted the seventh annual meeting of the Global Network of R2P Focal Points in Doha, Qatar, from 24 to 25 April. This was the first meeting of the Global Network to take place in the Middle East region. The meeting brought together senior government officials from more than 40 countries as well as representatives from the European Union and United Nations. To enable a frank discussion on the activities of R2P Focal Points, the meeting was only open to existing members of the Global Network.

The seventh annual meeting was opened by the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar, H.E. Dr. Ahmed Hassan AlHammadi, who spoke about mass atrocity crimes in the Middle East region and Qatar’s commitment – as the first country in the region to appoint an R2P Focal Point – to encourage its neighbors to join the Global Network. During the opening ceremony, Secretary-General AlHammadi was joined by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect, Mr. Ivan Šimonović, and the Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Dr. Simon Adams. Mr. Fabrizio Hochschild, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Coordination, also delivered remarks via video message.

During the meeting participants discussed challenges and opportunities for accountability for mass atrocity crimes, the global rise in hate speech and xenophobia, as well as the ongoing refugee crisis and its impact upon efforts to prevent and halt genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The interactive discussion gave R2P Focal Points an opportunity to exchange ideas regarding how they can personally contribute to their government’s approach to mass atrocity prevention.

The following summary provides an overview of the key messages delivered by expert panelists as well as the outcome of discussions amongst R2P Focal Points during the two-day meeting.