Advancing Transatlantic Linkages on the Responsibility to Protect and Mass Atrocity Prevention

The international community is in urgent need of successful, cooperative strategies for preventing and stopping mass atrocities. As recent crises have highlighted, effective international cooperation to save lives and preserve peace and security remains aspirational at best. The right starting point for the cooperation is between like-minded, politically influential, and militarily capable allies and partners, starting with the longtime transatlantic partners of the United States and others who have a record of supporting common security objectives. Those who share the view that preventing atrocities is “a core national security interest and a core moral responsibility” must assess their individual national efforts and coordinate their activities.

In an effort to move toward that objective, Tod Lindberg, research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University; and Lee Feinstein, former US ambassador to Poland and  the Center for the Prevention of Genocide of the Holocaust Museum, will coordinate a project designed to evaluate and assess the capabilities and gaps of key national and institutional actors on the issue of international action to prevent and halt mass atrocities. They will review the degree to which national governments, the European Union and its constituent components, and relevant regional and subregional partnerships have established policies and dedicated resources to the prevention of atrocities.

On February 18, the Stanley Center, in collaboration with the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPI) in Berlin, will host the third in the series of meetings in European capitals with meetings already completed in Paris. The objective of these European meetings is to engage with policymakers and practitioners to create opportunities for better transatlantic cooperation to prevent atrocity crimes. The Stanley Center brings institutional expertise to these convenings as a core component of the center’s work in the Human Protection area focused on upstream prevention to mitigate incidences of atrocity crimes.