Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (R2P)

21/07/2026

This month marks 28 years since the Rome Statute was adopted, on July 17, 1998, at a UN diplomatic conference in Rome. The treaty established the International Criminal Court (ICC), the first permanent international tribunal with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and (later) the crime of aggression.

Today the Statute has over 125 states parties, though several major powers — including the United States, China, and Russia — have never ratified it, and the ICC's jurisdiction and enforcement powers remain a subject of ongoing international debate and the court is confronting one of its most seroius challenges in its history.

Our Region in particular has very low membership
Afghanistan
Australia
Bangladesh
Cambodia
Cook Islands
Fiji
Japan
Kiribati
Marshall Islands
Mongolia
Nauru
New Zealand
Republic of Korea (South Korea)
Samoa
Timor-Leste
Vanuatu
Note the Philippines was previously a member but formally withdrew in March 2019 under President Duterte,

For more on our region read our recent report Strengthening the Legal Foundations for Atrocity Prevention in the Pacific

Atrocity crimes — genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing — are often associated with fragile or conflict-affected states elsewhere in the world. Yet the underlying Strengthening the Legal Foundations for Atrocity Prevention in the Pacificconditions that can give rise...

20/07/2026

New APR2P Report: Strengthening the Legal Foundations for Atrocity Prevention in the Pacific

Atrocity crimes are often seen as a distant risk — but the conditions that enable them (political instability, climate insecurity, gender-based violence, transnational crime) are present right here in the Pacific.

Our new report examines how well-equipped Pacific states and regional institutions are to prevent, respond to, and hold perpetrators accountable for atrocity crimes — and argues that strengthening these legal foundations is also key to the region's growing leadership on international law, including on ecocide.

Drawing on an original survey of legislation across 15 Pacific states — the first of its kind — the report maps where the gaps are and sets out practical pathways forward.

https://r2pasiapacific.org/article/2026/07/strengthening-legal-foundations-atrocity-prevention-pacific

20/07/2026

Read the Joint Statement: Call for Action on Accountability for Afghanistan on the International Day for Criminal Justice which urges the UN Member States and the broader international community to act swiftly on the following recommendations that the Afghan civil society has repeatedly shared, and they have been reinforced in the Judgment of the historic People’s Tribunal for Women of Afghanistan:

Joint Statement: Call for Action on Accountability for Afghanistan on the International Day for Criminal Justice Today, on the International Day for Criminal Justice, we, Afghan and international human rights and civil society organizations, remind the global community that international law is only...

13/07/2026

Read latest op-ed from Yuyun Wahyuningrum, Senior Fellow for Atrocity Prevention and Southeast Asia at the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility

Twenty years of UN resolutions – and the Rohingya still wait
The international community has grown more effective at pursuing justice and worse at sustaining protection.

https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/twenty-years-of-un-resolutions-and-the-rohingya-still-wait?fbclid=IwY2xjawTBFY9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEebE5xan5oTjc_jhLQdbJ4wDokyLkYLvjEXOS2a5FsmcSprjlfaqAiS3uEsUw_aem_Knrp6FFb-DfYk5LLG--U9g

The international community has grown more effective at pursuing justice and worse at sustaining protection.

12/07/2026

Three years ago, the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect and the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect released a landmark publication, A Framework for Action for the Responsibility to Protect: A Resource for States. Today, we're releasing an unofficial Bahasa Indonesia translation of it.

The Framework grew out of a shift in the General Assembly's annual R2P debates, where many States began calling for more focus on implementation — that is, on concrete steps States can take, both at home and abroad, alone or together, to better protect populations from atrocity crimes.

It lays out actions States can take across four areas:
1. Domestic laws, policies, and institutions
2. Bilateral cooperation and influence
3. Regional cooperation
4. Multilateral cooperation

The Framework is meant for every State, not only those with a history of atrocity crimes or a high perceived risk. Risk factors like inequality, discrimination, marginalisation, xenophobia, and identity-based violence exist to some degree in every society — just as every State also has institutions and actors that help guard against atrocities. Whatever a State's risk profile, tackling these factors and reinforcing these safeguards helps build more stable, harmonious, and resilient societies.

Three years ago, the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect and the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect released a landmark publication, A Framework for Action for the Responsibility to Protect: A Resource for States. Today, we're releasing an unofficial Bahasa Indonesia t...

09/07/2026

Latest overview of Asia Pacific risks for Atrocity includes

• Escalation in deadly attacks in Papua throughout first half of 2026
• Hate speech and disinformation aimed at Rohingya refugees, surges in Malaysia
• Tensions deepen between PNG and Bougainville ahead of parliamentary vote

07/07/2026

Just released Preventing Atrocity Crimes in Bangladesh: Eight Strategic Priorities for a Fragile Democracy authored by Mubashar Hasan, Sarah Teitt, and Aaqib Md. Shatil

This is a companion report to Bangladesh Atrocity Risk Assessment: The Challenges Ahead for the New Government (May 2026), which found that Bangladesh remains at high risk of atrocity crimes despite its recent democratic opening and ongoing transition from years of increasingly authoritarian and repressive rule.

The report outlines eight priority strategies to strengthen Bangladesh’s atrocity prevention capacity and resilience, centred on: security sector accountability, youth- and gender-centred deradicalization initiatives, democratic and judicial reform, enhancing minority protections, media resilience, strengthening international cooperation to address humanitarian crises, and trauma-informed approaches to enhance social cohesion. It argues that effective prevention requires a broad, inclusive and gender-responsive approach to address the structural drivers of political violence, strengthen institutions capable of managing political competition peacefully, and protect vulnerable communities.

The prevention strategies outlined in this report are not exhaustive, but they represent the most urgent structural interventions that could meaningfully reduce Bangladesh's risk trajectory. Sustained implementation requires political will, international support, and accountability mechanisms that are transparent, consistent, and immune to partisan manipulation.

https://r2pasiapacific.org/article/2026/07/preventing-atrocity-crimes-bangladesh-eight-strategic-priorities-fragile-democracy

30/06/2026

To read Yuyun Wahyuningrum and Sarah Teitt amended article exploring whether ASEAN is on the right path as it works to engage Myanmar.

Yuyun Wahyuningrum and Sarah Teitt explore whether ASEAN is on the right path as it works to engage Myanmar.

30/06/2026

ASEAN’s challenge is not simply to re-engage Myanmar, but to engage a Myanmar that has fundamentally changed since 2021.

Call for a more coordinated regional approach and a broader understanding of the Myanmars evolving political landscape

https://fulcrum.sg/aseans-renewed-engagement-with-naypyidaw-and-the-future-of-federal-myanmar/

Yuyun Wahyuningrum Senior Fellow for Atrocity Prevention & Southeast Asia at the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, University of Queensland. PhD Researcher at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Dr Sarah Teitt is the Director of the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect and Senior Lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies, School of Political Science and International Studies, University of Queensland.

Is ASEAN on the right path as it works to engage Myanmar?

26/05/2026

APR2P well represented at a recent two-day workshop Prosecuting Asia-Pacific International Crimes in Domestic Courts, co-hosted by Griffith University, the Asia Justice Coalition and FIBGAR in Brisbane.

The workshop brought together practitioners, academics and civil society actors from across the world to examine how domestic courts can advance accountability for atrocity crimes through universal and extra-territorial jurisdiction. Keynote addresses were delivered by Kaoru Okuizumi, Deputy Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, and Antonia Mulvey, Founder and Executive Director of Legal Action Worldwide.
Beth Rowan and Xuwan Ouyang presented their research on atrocity prevention and accountability, while Sarah Teitt and Katrina Elliot Myerson moderated panels across the two days. The discussions reinforced why this work matters, and the APR2P Centre remains committed to supporting accountability efforts across the region.