At a MacArthur-supported conference on the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced his strong support for R2P and suggested that the prevention of mass atrocities will be an emphasis during his second term. Responsibility to Protect is the principle that governments have an obligation to protect their people from human rights abuses and, when they fail, the international community must step in. Prevention is one of three pillars of the R2P doctrine, along with response and rebuilding. Ban noted that, with international intervention in countries like Libya, Syria, the South Sudan and Yemen, R2P was successfully tested in 2011. Watch video of the conference.
