"Statement by Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN, During the General Assembly Debate on the Responsibility to Protect, and the Prevention of Genocide, War Crimes, Ethnic Cleansing and Crimes against Humanity (6 July 2026) ********* President, Genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity are unconscionable acts against the core values of human civilisation. In the aftermath of genocides in Rwanda and Srebrenica, the R2P construct was presented with great fanfare during the 2005 World Summit, as a bulwark against such heinous crimes in future. 2. Yet, over 20 years down the road, with unprecedented high number of conflicts all over the world, the edifice of R2P stands on tenuous grounds. Our shared objective to protect fundamental human rights, and to prevent recurrence of mass atrocities is often obfuscated by inaction, denial, selectivity and paralysis. 3. Nowhere is this void more evident than in situations of prolonged conflict and foreign occupation, where atrocities have been committed with impunity, in full glare of international attention — No responsibility, no protection, no accountability. The promise of ‘Never Again’ unfulfilled. President, 4. It is pertinent to recall that the 2005 Outcome Document presented the concept of R2P as a balance between individual responsibility of States and the collective responsibility of the international community. 5. It is a dramatic reversal that those who were pushing to act even under controversial concepts like unilateral humanitarian intervention, at that time, are not willing today to fulfill the collective responsibility that was agreed in 2005. Occupiers are still shielded and their grave atrocities against besieged people struggling for their rights, still overlooked, lacking credible response from the international community. 6. And in other instances, efforts of national governments to protect their people and establish peace in their territories, are undermined by political and economic pressures, interference, and support for rebel and terrorist groups. President, 7. If R2P is to retain credibility as a pristine humanitarian doctrine, that would require consistency, and uniform non-selective application, in line with the UN Charter and international law. 8. That entails a comprehensive approach. Instead of reacting after a crisis has unfolded, we shall have to make sustained investment in prevention, early warning systems, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. The international community must do more to peacefully resolve long-running conflicts and major disputes on the agenda of the Security Council, in accordance with relevant UNSC resolutions and international legitimacy. And, we shall have to unapologetically confront hate speech, xenophobia, Islamophobia and other grotesque ideologies that disrupt societies, and breed discrimination and violence. 9. This remains the most realistic pathway to honour those who have fallen victim to atrocity crimes, to protect our future generations, and to restore our faith in multilateral action, justice and accountability. I thank you."