Chers collègues,
Collègues ambassadeurs,
Panellists,
Distinguished guests,
Mesdames et messieurs,
Chers amis,

It is a pleasure to welcome you this evening to this special conference on the UN endorsed principle of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). This conference is really part of a continuum of a long-standing tradition of close cooperation between Canada and Belgium. This partnership is all the more vital at this time, when Belgium has a seat in the UNSC and has taken that responsibility very seriously in identifying some of its priorities. For Canada, it is a “heureuse coincidence” that Belgian and Canadian priorities are so closely related.

I want to express my appreciation and thanks to our colleagues in the Belgian federal public service of Foreign Affairs, but also to the Egmont Institute and, in particular, to ambassador Claude Misson and Sven Biscop for their appreciated partnership in organising this conference.

Some of you may think that conferences are all about talking and not about action. Some people have said "maybe that is true for Responsibility to Protect". This evening, we are pleased to have with us a keynote speaker who has done both. In fact, not only he has talked and written about R2P, but he has done a great deal about it.

I’ll take first a few moments to share some Canadian reflections on R2P.

Canada is proud to have played a significant role in developing this concept and bringing forward its realisation. Canada is at the heart of this concept. Along with conflict prevention, better governance on accountability and the protection of children affected by armed conflict -  I think we should have a bumper sticker on that that says “better a child with bread in his hands than a gun” - R2P is part of the diplomatic toolkit of the 21st century.

In essence, the R2P civilians is a basis principle for all of our societies. It wasn’t invented just a few years ago. But when a state fails or refuses to live up to this fundamental responsibility, the international community – that is us – has a responsibility to become involved. This concept is not about the right to intervene, but rather about the right of civilians to be protected. In extreme situations, such as genocide or crimes against humanity, this may require the use of force. The 2005 World Summit in New York acknowledged the responsibility of states to protect its population from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity as well as an international responsibility to protect and to act when a state fails to protect its own people.

The question before us now is “How to translate this noble concept of the R2P into practical action?” How do we move from theory into practice in such a complex world?

In Canada’s view, follow-up work from the 2005 World Summit falls under three broad categories:

• deepening and broadening consensus on the international community’s collective responsibility. In this context the EU and the Afraican Union play an important role;
• monitoring situations where civilians may be at risk, a serious risk of armed attack. What is our capacity? What are our means to assess and to find these things out before they happen, rather than react after they have happened;
• enhancing military capabilities and preparedness to protect.

There remains a lot of work to do to prevent another Rwanda or Srebrenica. With that in mind, I’m delighted that Mr Gareth Evans is able to join us this evening. Few are as knowledgeable and as qualified to speak on the subject.

Mr Evans has been President and Chief Executive Officer of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group since January 2000. Under his stewardship, the ICG developed into an active and highly respected actor in the prevention and resolution of deadly conflict – so much that his expertise has been in constant demand at the highest levels of international policy and decision-making.

In 2000, he was appointed by the government of Canada to co-chair the ICISS. It was this Commission that first introduced the concept of the R2P in December 2001. It seemed only natural that Mr Evans would continue his work on R2P as a member of the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change whose report of December 2004 set the tone for the UN leader Summit in September 2005. Continuing his impressive run of high level UN panels, Mr Evans served on the Blix Commission on WMD, and was active in the International Task Force on Global International Goods. He is currently a member of the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Committee on the Prevention of Genocide.

Of course, his pre-ICG life is also impressive. Over the course of a highly successful political career, spending 21 years in his homeland, Australia - which is close to Canada - he was one of Australians longest serving foreign ministers. He earned international renown for his role in the development of the UN peace plan for Cambodia, the conclusion of the Chemical Weapons Convention, and the creation of the APEC forum and ASEAN Regional Forum.

Mr Evans has also written or edited 8 books, including Cooperating for Peace: The Global Agenda for the 1990s (launched at the UN in 1993) and has published over 90 chapters in books and journal articles on foreign relations, politics, human rights and legal and constitutional reform.

Mesdames, Messieurs,
Je crois que vous êtes d’accord avec moi qu’il n’y a personne de plus qualifiée que lui pour  partager avec nous ses perspectives sur cet enjeux qui est si important -  on the R2P.Why is it needed? How will we move from theory into practice some 13 years after the genocide in Rwanda?

I give the floor to Mr Evans.