A/HRC/10/30 page 2 Summary In the present report, the Secretary-General gives a description of a series of ongoing efforts by the United Nations, including a new framework of analysis designed by the office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Francis M. Deng, to determine whether there may be a risk of genocide in a certain situation. The framework asks a number of questions to prompt information collection and analysis of key areas, about (a) the existence and vulnerability of national, ethnic, racial or religious group(s); (b) human rights violations committed against such group(s); (c) domestic capacity to prevent genocide; (d) the existence of armed opposition actors; (e) the existence of any significant political or economic other motivation encouraging political leaders to stoke divisions between groups; (f) whether elements of the crime of genocide are already occurring; (g) whether there are moments of particular vulnerability approaching; and (h) whether there is a discernible intent to commit to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious population group. The efforts of the office of the Special Adviser, in partnership with legal experts and non-governmental organizations, to identify ways in which provisions of international law, and human rights law in particular, can be more effectively used as a guide in the prevention of genocide, are then described, as is progress in operationalizing the “responsibility to protect”, including a decision that implementation of that responsibility should be conducted jointly with the office of the Special Adviser. In the report, the Secretary-General also emphasizes the responsibility and essential contribution of the United Nations operational departments and specialized agencies in preventing genocide. Section two of the report includes descriptions by the Department of Political Affairs, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Office of Legal Affairs, the Department of Public Information, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, together with examples of their own assessment of their contributions to prevention - from monitoring and early warning to addressing ongoing genocide, to building peace and restoring justice. The section ends with an update on the activities of the Advisory Committee on the prevention of genocide, including a description of its October 2008 meeting and its recommendations that the Committee be maintained in the future but that its membership be rotated. In the third section, the Secretary-General describes the response of the Special Adviser to specific situations of concern, including his visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in November 2008 and his conclusions that there is cause for deep concern regarding the grave human rights and humanitarian situation in North Kivu, including the risk of genocidal violence, with implications for the entire subregion. He describes accusations and counter-accusations of genocide, which themselves heighten the risk that genocide may occur. The report briefly summarizes the Special Adviser’s recommendations, which fall into four interrelated areas: (a) the protection of populations at risk against massive violations of human rights or humanitarian law; (b) accountability for violations; (c) humanitarian relief and access to economic, social and cultural rights; and (d) the initiation and support of steps to address underlying causes of conflict through peace agreements and transition processes.