A/65/287 General as “genocide’s most frequent targets” 18 — and other vulnerable population groups. In 2004, the Secretary-General established the mandate of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide. The principal objective of the Special Adviser is to advise the Secretary-General and the Security Council on actions to protect vulnerable populations from genocide. The Office of the Special Adviser also attempts to identify a range of potential threats to minority populations at an early stage and make recommendations regarding the more constructive management of cultural diversity issues. 19 65. An analysis framework is used by the Special Adviser’s office to identify threats to minority communities at an early stage. In addition to genocide-specific indicators, such as the demonization of minority communities and a history of genocide in the country, it includes indicators of broader significance to minorities, such as conflicts over land, power, security and expressions of group identity, such as language, religion and culture, and attacks on cultural and religious property and symbols. 20 66. As an essential tool of the early warning aspects of the mandate, the Special Adviser’s office is privy to an enormous flow of information generated by sources inside and external to the United Nations system. The Special Adviser’s gauge for sifting through that information flow is calibrated for precursors to genocide: an extremely important focus but one that is limited, fortunately, to a small number of situations. Clearly, therefore, there is a need for additional tools that focus on chronic abuses of minority rights at the earliest stages, to identify situations needing more upstream preventive action. 67. By its resolution 60/1 of 16 September 2005, the General Assembly adopted the 2005 World Summit Outcome, in which the States Members of the United Nations conceptualized a principle that is of prime importance to the protection of minorities: the responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, more commonly known as “the responsibility to protect”. This concept recognizes the duty of the international community to intervene to protect populations when their own Governments cannot or lack the will to do so. It prioritizes above all the use of appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, before legitimate force is contemplated through Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. 68. As with the mandate of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, the focus of the institutional mechanisms that are being developed to implement the concept of the responsibility to protect will be limited to specific crimes. 21 A broader focus on minority rights protections as a tool for protection from conflict will need to be the task of other mechanisms. 69. A number of offices and agencies within the United Nations system have information assessment, early warning and conflict prevention functions. The Department of Political Affairs is the lead agency for conflict prevention and peacemaking. Within the Department, the standby team of mediation experts, an __________________ 18 19 20 21 16 SG/SM/9245, 7 April 2004. Interview with member of the staff of the Special Adviser's office, 10 May 2010. See http://www.un.org/preventgenocide/adviser/. See the report of the Secretary-General on early warning, assessment and the responsibility to protect (A/64/864). 10-48298