10 February 2016 - The Philippines hosted the Second International Meeting of the Global Action against Mass Atrocity Crimes (GAAMAC II) from February 02 to 04, in Marco Polo Hotel, Pasig City with the theme, “Preventing atrocities: How to strengthen national atrocity prevention architectures”.

GAAMAC II, which is a state and CSO-led initiative established in March 2013, brought together more than 200 delegates, comprising of 54 states, 37 of whom came from their capitals and over 50 non-government organizations as well as 10 international organizations, to share experiences in mass atrocity prevention and develop national architectures to deter such crimes. Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs Rafael E. Seguis opened the meeting with an overview of the Philippines' institutional advances and implementation of human rights and international humanitarian law.

The international meeting brought in experts in the field of human rights, international humanitarian law, justice, peace and reconciliation, conflict and genocide prevention and advocates of the Right to Protect (R2P) led by UN Undersecretary General and Special Adviser to the Secretary General on the Prevention of Genocide and R2P Mr. Adama Dieng. Drawing against the backdrop of various conflicts occurring in various parts of the world, Undersecretary Dieng challenged the delegates to come up with regional practical tools and approaches to combat the threat of mass atrocity crimes. The delegates responded enthusiastically with the following recommendations: 

• The Africa group proposed the creation of a manual to be developed within the next 12 months.  

• The Asia group recommended the creation of a loose network of atrocity prevention advocates tasked with the responsibility on developing county profiles, including political surveys, and compilation of best practices.

• The North America and Europe group called for dialogue and action with stakeholders to raise the political profile and operationalization of atrocity prevention and R2P; and

• The Latin American group  recommended the implementation of standardized training and capacity building measures and promoting inclusive multi-sectoral dialogue and regional cooperation in developing national architectures.

Special Envoy of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs' Task Force for Dealing with the Past and Prevention of Atrocities, Ms. Mo Bleeker underscored the Philippines' role as a key partner in raising awareness about atrocity crimes and prevention in the region. Ideas and initiatives tabled in GAAMAC II's include the following:

• Data gathering and data verification systems not only to find instances of mass violence, but also their patterns;

• Regionally-based, cross-cutting partnerships on information sharing and capacity building, such as in the Great Lakes Region in Africa;

• Making information and technology tools available for atrocity prevention at the local, community level;

• Compiling good practices on, for example, countering hate speech, promoting inclusivity, and the use of social media;

• Developing tolerance/atrocity prevention education curricula; and

• Advocacy and dissemination of gender-relevant issues in atrocity prevention.-

Assistant Secretary of Foreign Affairs Mr. Jesus R. S. Domingo closed the meeting by emphasizing the importance of an inclusive multi-stakeholder involvement,    capacitating communities at the grass roots level and the role of each GAAMAC II delegate in the formation of an “architecture or edifice”- whether local, national, regional or global - to prevent mass atrocity crimes. END