UK Mass Atrocity Prevention

In 2018, an inquiry was launched to investigate the UK governments approach in the prevention of mass atrocities, with evidence to suggest that responses have been largely ineffective. Justification for humanitarian intervention is a complex debate, based largely on the dichotomy between legal and moral arguments (e.g., the airstrikes in Kosovo are said to have been illegal but legitimate). Although the UK has a distinct strategy for conflict prevention, the Protection Approaches 2017 suggest that developing an atrocity prevention lens would allow the government to protect populations from destructive intervention. Thus, in order to provide effective protection against mass atrocities, the UK government must take preventative action, and consider what can and should be done at an earlier stage. This project, as designed by Dr Adrian Gallagher, seeks to address limitations of the Responsibility to Protect and develop the first UK cross-government strategy towards the prevention of mass atrocities and will involve the following stages: 1) Conduct a cross-departmental analysis in order to identify obstacles that hinder the UK governments current approach (e.g., using rapid evidence assessments) 2) Investigate whether mass atrocity indicators (e.g., common or specific risk factors) can be incorporated into the governments approach to conflict prevention (e.g., in the Conflict Prevention Pool) 3) Undertake analysis of non-UK approaches using comparative methods, case studies and regression analysis 4) Compare and evaluate qualitative and quantitative approaches in predicting mass violence (e.g., early warning vs risk assessment models) through systematic review