The Nuremberg judgement famously held that crimes against international law are committed by men, not by abstract entities – but who, then, is to prevent these crimes? In 2005, all UN Member States agreed that it was their responsibility to protect populations against atrocity crimes (short R2P). In 2010, the idea was born to appoint senior government officials to act as individual R2P Focal Points to help implement this historic pledge. This article critically examines the focal point idea and its practice, focusing on the experience of the Danish R2P Focal Point as well as the role of the Global Network of R2P Focal Point which today has members from 61 UN member states. The article highlights the significant potential of the R2P Focal Points but also a series of pre-conditions that need to be met if the appointment of a R2P Focal Point is not to remain a mere gesture.

著名的纽伦堡判决认为，违反国际法的罪行是由人犯下的，而不是由抽象实体犯下的——但是，谁来阻止这些罪行呢？2005 年，所有联合国会员国都同意保护民众免遭暴行罪（简称 R2P）是他们的责任。2010 年，萌生了任命高级政府官员作为个人 R2P 联络人以帮助实现这一历史性承诺的想法。本文批判性地审视了联络点的想法及其实践，重点关注丹麦 R2P 联络点的经验以及 R2P 联络点全球网络的作用，该网络目前拥有来自 61 个联合国成员国的成员。