19 April 2016 – The United Nations Missions of the Philippines and Switzerland co-hosted a debriefing today for diplomatic missions and representatives of international civil society at the United Nations on the highlights of the second international meeting of the Global Action Against Mass Atrocity Crimes (GAAMAC), which was held in Manila from February 02 to 04.

Ambassador Lourdes O. Yparraguirre, Permanent Representative to the UN, chaired the briefing and underscored the Philippines’ commitment to human rights and the rule of the law through preventive action against mass atrocity crimes.

GAAMAC is a state and civil society organization-led initiative established in March 2013 to share experiences in mass atrocity prevention and develop national architectures to deter such crimes. The Manila meeting (GAAMAC 2), which convened more than 200 delegates and experts, comprising of 52 states, and over 50 non-government organizations as well as 10 international organizations, followed the first meeting held in San Jose, Costa Rica in March 2014. The theme of GAAMAC 2 was, “Preventing atrocities: How to strengthen national atrocity prevention architectures.”   

“The Manila meeting was quite unique,” according to Ambassador Yparraguirre, since it “had such great diversity of participants from governments and civil society from all over the world.”

She recalled that Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, General Buenaventura Pascual from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and former Chairperson Loretta Rosales of the Commission on Human Rights, were joined by many local and international NGOs as well as by UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz in sharing expertise, experiences and perspectives in atrocity prevention.

At GAAMAC 2, regional plans of action on practical tools and approaches to combat the threat of mass atrocity crimes were discussed, including a manual for the African group, a network of atrocity prevention advocates for the Asian group, stakeholder dialogue and action for the North America and Europe, and promoting inclusive multi-sectoral dialogue and developing national architectures for the Latin American group.

“In the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, all actors should focus on cooperation to build the national resilience of countries which may be at risk. These would include the gamut of constitutional and legal protections, beginning with the continuous strengthening of national institutions toward good governance, as well as protecting human rights,” Ambassador Yparraguirre underscored, assuring that the Philippines will stay continuously involved in GAAMAC.

At the open forum, participants emphasized the primacy of sustained dialogue and education as drivers of prevention. 

Ambassador Yparraguirre was joined in the panel by Serge Rumin representing Special Envoy Mô Bleeker of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Gillian Kitley representing Undersecretary-General and Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng, Executive Director Simon Adams of the Global Center for the Responsibility to Protect, and co-host Deputy Permanent Representative Olivier Zehnder of the Swiss Mission to the UN.

GAAMAC 3 is proposed to be held in the African region in 2018. END