Guidance Note of the Secretary-General on Racial Discrimination and Protection of Minorities  •  15 measures aimed at preventing or stopping conflict, as measures designed for resolution of existing crises may sow the seeds of future discrimination. 7. Genocide prevention and the responsibility to protect 43. Genocide constitutes an extreme form of identity-related conflict. Efforts for the prevention of this crime, therefore, require consistent application of legal and policy measures aimed at combating discrimination and mitigating identity-based tensions and the risk of violence in the management of intergroup relations. The concept of the responsibility to protect, adopted unanimously by all heads of State and Government at the 2005 World Summit, calls upon Member States to protect their populations by preventing genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, as well as their incitement. It also calls upon the international community to assist Member States in fulfilling this commitment. Member States thus have the responsibility to address all tensions between communities and discriminatory practices that could eventually lead to the commission of atrocity crimes, and the international community, including the UN, has the responsibility to assist Member States, as necessary. UN assistance to address discrimination issues lies at the core of such efforts, bearing in mind also the importance of the gender dimension. 8. Peacekeeping and peacebuilding initiatives 44. Normative framework of peacekeeping and peacebuilding encompasses human rights, including minority rights and standards on the elimination of racial discrimination. Addressing recurring peacebuilding priorities in the early post-conflict period13 requires attention to be paid to nondiscrimination­and protection of minorities. For example, UN support to political processes, including electoral processes, and promoting inclusive dialogue and reconciliation needs to ensure that minorities and other common targets of racial discrimination are also adequately included in such processes. It is also important for the UN to encourage involvement of minorities and inclusion of their human rights concerns in transitional justice processes. Furthermore, UN support to the provision of basic services in the post-conflict period needs to reinforce non-discriminatory provision of such services. 45. In cases where inter-ethnic, religious or other identity-related tensions or discrimination have been a trigger and/or a feature of the conflict, it is particularly important for the UN to be sensitive to diversity within and between communities in its peacekeeping and peacebuilding activities. Interventions that are sensitive to such diversity and are built on dialogue that includes marginalized groups can help to counter exclusion and create new opportunities for minorities and others to play a greater role in the public realm. Popular engagement in prioritization is critical in early 13 Outlined in the Report of the Secretary-General on peacebuilding in the immediate aftermath of conflict, A/63/881–S/2009/304.