Red Lines Hard to Define, says Panel on Final Day of The Atlantic Dialogues

On the final day of The Atlantic Dialogues, Adama Dieng, the UN special adviser to the secretary-general on the prevention of genocide, said that while the conflict in Syria has gone beyond a point that the international community could tolerate, direct intervention was not the answer in this case. “It is clear that the red line was reached in the case of Syria with the use of chemical weapons,” he said. “However, we have to realize that the use of force should not be used until after you have exhausted all peaceful means, and you have to make sure that you will not do more harm.” Dieng was speaking at The Atlantic Dialogues, a high-level gathering of international public- and private-sector leaders from around the Atlantic Basin. The Atlantic Dialogues is a joint initiative of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the OCP Foundation, and the OCP Policy Center in Morocco. The panel on which he was speaking focused on the response of the international community to crises such as Syria, North Korea, and Iran. While not formally on the panel, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, spoke to the group and said that he agreed that a red line was crossed in Syria, but there are larger issues to consider as well. He said the term “red line suggests that there will be an automatic response, separate and aside from the context of the situation. And I think what we have learned through our recent interventions in the last decade is that you have to consider the context before deciding upon the responses.” Dieng went on to say that nations have a responsibility to their own citizens but also to people around the world, even in the forgotten corners. “If, as a state, you fail to protect your own population, you lose your legitimacy. If, as a state, you fail to protect your population, it is the duty of other states to come and rescue them,” he said. “The international community has to stand up and protect the population in Central African Republic.” In a later panel on health challenges in Africa, Julie Gerberding, the president of Merck Vaccines, said that the world cannot afford to become complacent about HIV/AIDS just because relatively affordable treatments are now available. “The situation with HIV in Africa is still job one,” she said, “It is still the most prevalent, the most transmissible, the most deadly problem that we face as a globe and we need to deal with it on a sustainable basis much more effectively than we’re doing right now.” The last panel of the conference was with Meriem El Asraoui and Vahid Monadjem, two participants in the Emerging Leaders Program at The Atlantic Dialogues. The program combines leadership development training, conversations with established and up-and-coming leaders, and discussions on key issues for the Atlantic community. Ms. El Asraoui noted that the biggest challenges facing rising leaders “is that young people shouldn’t complain, but instead work to make a difference.” Dr. Mostafa Terrab, the president of the OCP Foundation concluded the conference focusing on the vision and energy the young leaders brought to the weekend’s discussions, suggesting that the Emerging Leaders replace the panelists on stage to guide the conversations.