title: Responsibility to protect

text: The focused scope is part of what the UN Secretary-General has termed a "narrow but deep approach" to the Responsibility to Protect: A narrow application to four crimes, but a deep approach to response, employing the wide array of prevention and protection instruments available to Member States, the United Nations system, regional and subregional organizations and civil society.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: The Responsibility to Protect consists of three important and mutually-reinforcing pillars, as articulated in the 2009 Report of the Secretary-General on the issue, and which build off paragraphs 138 and 139 of the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document and the intergovernmental agreement to the principle:


title: Responsibility to protect

text: While there is widespread agreement among states about the Responsibility to Protect (only Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Sudan have questioned R2P's validity), there is persistent contestation about the applicability of the third pillar in practice.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: According to the UN Secretary-General's 2012 report, the three pillars of the Responsibility to Protect are not sequential and are of equal importance. "Without all three, the concept would be incomplete. All three pillars must be implemented in a manner fully consistent with the purposes, principles, and provisions of the Charter"."" The pillared approach is intended to reinforce, not undermine state sovereignty. As per the 2009 report of the Secretary-General, "By helping States to meet their core protection responsibilities, the responsibility to protect seeks to strengthen sovereignty, not weaken it. It seeks to help States to succeed, not just to react when they fail".""


title: Responsibility to protect

text: The Responsibility to Protect differs from humanitarian intervention in four important ways. First, humanitarian intervention only refers to the use of military force, whereas R2P is first and foremost a preventive principle that emphasizes a range of measures to stem the risk of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing or crimes against humanity before the crimes are threatened or occur. The use of force may only be carried out as a measure of last resort, when all other non-coercive measures have failed, and only when it is authorized by the UN Security Council. This is in contrast to the principle of 'humanitarian intervention', which claims to allow for the use of force as a humanitarian imperative without the authorization of the Security Council.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: The second point relates to the first. As a principle, the Responsibility to Protect is rooted firmly in existing international law, especially the law relating to sovereignty, peace and security, human rights, and armed conflict.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: Third, while humanitarian interventions have in the past been justified in the context of varying situations, R2P focuses only on the four mass atrocity crimes: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. The first three crimes are clearly defined in international law and codified in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the treaty which established the International Criminal Court. Ethnic cleansing is not a crime defined under international law, but has been defined by the UN as "a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas".


title: Responsibility to protect

text: Finally, while humanitarian intervention assumes a "right to intervene", the R2P is based on a "responsibility to protect". Humanitarian intervention and the R2P both agree on the fact that sovereignty is not absolute. However, the R2P doctrine shifts away from state-centered motivations to the interests of victims by focusing not on the right of states to intervene but on a responsibility to protect populations at risk. In addition, it introduces a new way of looking at the essence of sovereignty, moving away from issues of "control" and emphasising "responsibility" to one's own citizens and the wider international community.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: The norm of the R2P was born out of the international community's failure to respond to tragedies such as the Rwandan genocide in 1994 and the Srebrenica genocide in 1995. Kofi Annan, who was Assistant Secretary-General at the UN Department for Peacekeeping Operations during the Rwandan genocide, realized the international community's failure to respond. In the wake of the Kosovo intervention, 1999, Annan insisted that traditional notions of sovereignty had been redefined: "States are now widely understood to be instruments at the service of their peoples", he said, while U.S. President Bill Clinton cited human rights concerns in 46% of the hundreds of remarks that he made justifying intervention in Kosovo.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: In 2000, and in his capacity as UN Secretary-General, Annan wrote the report "We the Peoples" on the role of the United Nations in the 21st Century, and in this report he posed the following question: "if humanitarian intervention is, indeed, an unacceptable assault on sovereignty, how should we respond to a Rwanda, to a Srebrenica – to gross and systematic violations of human rights that offend every precept of our common humanity?"


title: Responsibility to protect

text: Many critics of the R2P's third pillar claim that R2P is a Western concept, but it was the African Union (AU) that pioneered the concept that the international community has a responsibility to intervene in crisis situations if a state is failing to protect its population from mass atrocity crimes. In 2000, the AU incorporated the right to intervene in a member state, as enshrined in Article 4(h) of its Constitutive Act, which declares "[t]he right of the Union to intervene in a Member State pursuant to a decision of the Assembly in respect of grave circumstances, namely war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity". The AU also adopted the Ezulwini Consensus in 2005, which welcomed R2P as a tool for the prevention of mass atrocities.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: In September 2000, following an appeal by its Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy, the Canadian government established the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) to answer Annan's question "if humanitarian intervention is, indeed, an unacceptable assault on sovereignty, how should we respond to a Rwanda, to a Srebrenica – to gross and systematic violations of human rights that affect every precept of our common humanity?" In February 2001, at the third round table meeting of the ICISS in London, Gareth Evans, Mohamed Sahnoun, and Michael Ignatieff suggested the phrase "responsibility to protect" as a way to avoid the "right to intervene" or "obligation to intervene" doctrines and yet keep a degree of duty to act to resolve humanitarian crises.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: In 2001, ICISS released a report titled "The Responsibility to Protect" . In a radical reformulation of the meaning of state sovereignty, the report argued that sovereignty entailed not only rights but also responsibilities, specifically a state's responsibility to protect its people from major violations of human rights. This idea rested on earlier work by Francis Deng and Roberta Cohen regarding internally displaced persons. Inspiration may also be attributed to Jan Eliasson, who in response to a questionnaire on internally displaced persons distributed by Francis Deng, stated that assisting populations at risk within their own country was "basically a question of striking a balance between sovereignty and solidarity with people in need." The ICISS report further asserted that, where a state was "unable or unwilling" to protect its people, the responsibility should shift to the international community and "the principle of non-intervention yields to the international responsibility to protect." The ICISS argued that any form of military intervention is "an exceptional and extraordinary measure", and, as such, to be justified it must meet certain criteria, including:


title: Responsibility to protect

text: As the ICISS report was released in 2001, right around the time of the Second Gulf War, many thought that would be the end of this new norm. However, at the 2005 World Summit, where the largest number of heads of state and government in the history of the UN convened, the R2P was unanimously adopted. While the outcome was close to the ideas of the ICISS report, there were some notable differences: the R2P would now only apply to mass atrocity crimes (genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing), rather than human rights violations; no mention was made of the criteria of intervention (see above); and the UN Security Council was made the only body allowed to authorize intervention. The paragraphs also stress the importance of regional organizations and the role they can play through Chapter VIII of the UN Charter.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: The results of this summit led to world leaders agreeing on holding each other accountable if they fail to uphold the new responsibilities. Decidedly if one state fails to uphold their responsibility this is now where State Sovereignty may be broken in order to protect people in danger of such crimes. First peaceful action is to be taken through humanitarian, diplomatic, or other means. If these fail to resolve the matter, the international community should come together in a “timely and decisive manner”. This shall all be worked on a case-by-case basis through the UN Security Council as well as the UN Charter.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: On 12 January 2009, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a report entitled "Implementing the Responsibility to Protect" . The report was the first comprehensive document from the UN Secretariat on the R2P, following Ban's stated commitment to turn the concept into policy. The Secretary-General's report set the tone and the direction for the discussion on the subject at the UN. The report proposes three-pillar approach to the R2P:


title: Responsibility to protect

text: The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy for the Responsibility to protect. The Centre is based at the Graduate Center, CUNY, New York City with an office also located in Geneva.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: At the 2005 World Summit, UN member states included R2P in the Outcome Document agreeing to Paragraphs 138 and 139 as written in its Definition. These paragraphs gave final language to the scope of R2P. It applies to the four mass atrocities crimes only. It also identifies to whom the R2P protocol applies; i.e., nations first, and regional and international communities second. Since then, the UN has been actively engaged with the development of the R2P. Several resolutions, reports, and debates have emerged through the UN forum.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: The Security Council has reaffirmed its commitment to the R2P in more than 80 resolutions. The first such resolution came in April 2006, when the Security Council reaffirmed the provisions of paragraphs 138 and 139 in Resolution 1674, formalizing their support for the R2P. In 2009, the Council again recognized states' primary responsibility to protect and reaffirmed paragraphs 138 and 139 in resolution 1894.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: In January 2009, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon released UN Secretariat's first comprehensive report on the R2P, called "Implementing the Responsibility to Protect" . His report led to a debate in the General Assembly in July 2009 and the first time since 2005 that the General Assembly had come together to discuss the R2P. Ninety-four member states spoke. Most supported the R2P principle, although some important concerns were voiced. They discussed how to implement the R2P in crisis situations around the world. The debate highlighted the need for regional organizations like the African Union to play a strong role in implementing R2P; the need for stronger early warning mechanisms in the UN; and the need to clarify the roles UN bodies would play in implementing R2P.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: One outcome of the debate was the first resolution referencing R2P adopted by the General Assembly. The Resolution (A/RES/63/308) showed that the international community had not forgotten about the concept of the R2P and it decided "to continue its consideration of the responsibility to protect".


title: Responsibility to protect

text: In subsequent years, the Secretary-General would release a new report, followed by another debate in the General Assembly.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: In 2010, the report was titled "Early Warning, Assessment and the Responsibility to Protect" . The informal interactive dialogue was held on 9 August 2010, with 49 member states, two regional organizations, and two civil society organizations speaking at the event. The discussion had a resoundingly positive tone, with virtually all of those that spoke stressing a need to prevent atrocities and agreeing that effective early warning is a necessary condition for effective prevention and early action. Objections were expressed by a small number of member states; namely Nicaragua, Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, and Venezuela.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: In 2011, the report analyzed "The Role of Regional and Subregional Arrangements in Implementing the Responsibility to Protect" . At the debate on 12 July 2011, statements were made by 43 member states, three regional organizations, and four civil society representatives. The biggest challenge to R2P was considered cooperation with, and support between, the UN and regional bodies in times of crisis. Member states acknowledged the importance of resolving this challenge through the unique advantages regional organizations possess in preventing and reacting to mass atrocities.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: In 2012, the focus was on "Responsibility to Protect: Timely and Decisive Response" . The debate followed on 5 September 2012 saw interventions address the third pillar of the R2P and the diversity of non-coercive and coercive measures available for a collective response to mass atrocity crimes.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: In 2013, the Secretary-General focused on "Responsibility to Protect: State responsibility and prevention" . The debate following the report was held on 11 September 2013. A panel of UN, member state, and civil society experts delivered presentations, after which 68 member states, 1 regional organization, and 2 civil society organizations made statements.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: In 2004, following the genocidal violence in Rwanda and the Balkans, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Juan E. Méndez as Special Adviser to fill critical gaps in the international system that allowed those tragedies to go unchecked. In 2007, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Francis M. Deng on a full-time basis at the level of Under-Secretary-General. Around the same time, he also appointed Edward Luck as the Special Adviser who focuses on the R2P, on a part-time basis at the level of Assistant Secretary-General.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: The Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect leads the conceptual, political, institutional, and operational development of the R2P. The Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide acts as a catalyst to raise awareness of the causes and dynamics of genocide, to alert relevant actors where there is a risk of genocide, and to advocate and mobilize for appropriate action. The mandates of the two Special Advisers are distinct but complementary. The efforts of their Office include alerting relevant actors to the risk of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity; enhancing the capacity of the UN to prevent these crimes, including their incitement; and working with member states, regional and sub-regional arrangements, and civil society to develop more effective means of response when they do occur.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: Both Special Advisers Deng and Luck ended their assignments with the Office in July 2012. On 17 July 2012, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Adama Dieng of Senegal as his Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide. On 12 July 2013, Jennifer Welsh of Canada was appointed as the Special Advisor on the Responsibility to Protect.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: From December 2007 to January 2008, Kenya was swept by a wave of ethnic violence triggered by a disputed presidential election held on 27 December 2007. On 30 December 2007, Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the presidential elections and was sworn in as president a couple of hours later. The announcement of the results triggered widespread and systematic violence resulting in more than 1,000 deaths and the displacement of over 500,000 civilians. Clashes were characterized by the ethnically targeted killings of people aligned with the two major political parties, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and the Party of National Unity (PNU).


title: Responsibility to protect

text: External intervention was almost immediate. French Foreign and European Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner made an appeal to the UN Security Council in January 2008 to react "in the name of the responsibility to protect" before Kenya plunged into a deadly ethnic conflict. On 31 December 2007, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement expressing concern for the ongoing violence and calling for the population to remain calm and for Kenyan security forces to show restraint. On 10 January 2008, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was accepted by both the ODM and the PNU as the African Union Chief Mediator. Mediation efforts led to the signing of a power-sharing agreement on 28 February 2008. The agreement established Mwai Kibaki as President and Raila Odinga as Prime Minister, as well as the creation of three commissions: the Commission of Inquiry on Post-Election Violence (CIPEV); the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission; and the Independent Review Commission on the General Elections. This rapid and coordinated reaction by the international community was praised by Human Rights Watch as "a model of diplomatic action under the 'Responsibility to Protect' principles".


title: Responsibility to protect

text: On 30 March 2011, in response to the escalating post-election violence against the population of Ivory Coast in late 2010 and early 2011, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1975 condemning the gross human rights violations committed by supporters of both ex-President Laurent Gbagbo and President Ouattara. The resolution cited "the primary responsibility of each State to protect civilians", called for the immediate transfer of power to President Ouattara, the victor in the elections, and reaffirmed that the United Nations Operation in Ivory Coast (UNOCI) could use "all necessary means to protect life and property." On 4 April 2011, in an effort to protect the people of Ivory Coast from further atrocities, UNOCI began a military operation, and President Gbagbo's hold on power ended on 11 April when he was arrested by President Ouattara's forces. In November 2011, President Gbagbo was transferred to the International Criminal Court to face charges of crimes against humanity as an "indirect co-perpetrator" of murder, rape, persecution, and other inhumane acts. On 26 July 2012, the Council adopted resolution 2062 renewing the mandate of UNOCI until 31 July 2013. The mission officially ended on 30 June 2017.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: Libya was the first case where the Security Council authorized a military intervention citing the R2P. Following widespread and systematic attacks against the civilian population by the Libyan regime, and language used by Muammar Gaddafi that reminded the international community of the genocide in Rwanda, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1970 on 26 February 2011, making explicit reference to the R2P. Deploring what it called "the gross and systematic violation of human rights" in strife-torn Libya, the Security Council demanded an end to the violence, "recalling the Libyan authorities' responsibility to protect its population", and imposed a series of international sanctions. The Council also decided to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: In resolution 1973, adopted on 17 March 2011, the Security Council demanded an immediate ceasefire in Libya, including an end to ongoing attacks against civilians, which it said might constitute "crimes against humanity". The Council authorized member states to take "all necessary measures" to protect civilians under threat of attack in the country, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory. A few days later, acting on the resolution, NATO planes started striking at Gaddafi's forces. NATO subsequently came under scrutiny for its behavior during the air strikes; concerns included the fact that the intervention quickly moved to regime-change and that there were allegations regarding aerial bombardments that may have caused civilian casualties.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: In December 2012, a loose rebel coalition named the Séléka initiated a military campaign to overthrow the government of the Central African Republic (CAR) and its then-president, Francois Bozizé. The Séléka, composed mostly of factions of armed groups in the northeast of the state, accused Bozizé's government of neglecting their region. They rapidly captured several strategic towns and were poised to take the capital city of Bangui. A hasty intervention by Chad and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) persuaded the Séléka to negotiate with Bozizé's government. The result, the Libreville Agreement of January 2013, installed a three-year power-sharing arrangement.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: However, ECCAS failed to monitor the implementation of the Libreville Agreement and Bozizé did not undertake any of the reforms necessary under the transition agreement. Séléka resurged and took control of Bangui and fifteen of CAR's sixteen provinces on 24 March 2013. Séléka's leader, Michel Djotodia, proclaimed himself President, set up the National Transitional Council (NTC), and suspended CAR's constitution. A hurried ECCAS summit on 4 April 2013, which did not yet recognize Djotodia as President, called for the creation of a Transitional National Council (TNC), which would create a new constitution, conduct elections in eighteen months, and select an interim President. On 13 April, the TNC chose the sole candidate vying for interim president position, Michel Djotodia.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: From December 2012 onward, Séléka forces, who are predominantly Muslim, committed grave human rights abuses against civilians throughout the country and especially targeted the majority Christian population. In response, Christian civilians formed "anti-balaka" ("anti-machete") militias, which have conducted vicious reprisals against Muslims. Extrajudicial killings of Muslim and Christian civilians have been carried out, including "door to door" searches by rival militias and mobs seeking potential victims.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: The situation in CAR rapidly deteriorated after 5 December 2013, after an attack in Bangui by anti-balaka militias and loyalists of ousted President François Bozizé. The attack against former Séléka rebels sparked widespread violence throughout the capital as well as in Ouham province in the northwest. The violence marked a significant escalation of the conflict in CAR. Anti-balaka forces launched another attack against Muslim neighborhoods of Bangui on 20 December, spurring a cycle of renewed violence that led to at least 71 deaths by 24 December. A mass grave of at least 30 people who were reportedly executed and exhibited signs of torture was discovered on 25 December. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates a further 40 civilians were killed on 25 December as violence continued between anti-balaka and ex-Séléka forces. Eight African Union (AU) peacekeepers were also killed between 25 and 26 December.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: According to OCHA, by September 2013 there were almost 400,000 internally displaced people and about 65,000 new refugees in neighbouring countries. Humanitarian agencies have alerted public opinion to the critical situation, stressing that 2.3 million CAR citizens (half the population) are in need of humanitarian assistance.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: The crisis in the CAR is a case for the R2P, due to mass atrocity crimes being committed by both sides. During a Security Council briefing on 25 November, UN Deputy-Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said that the world faced "a profoundly important test of international solidarity and of our responsibility to protect" in CAR. The Security Council passed Resolution 2127 on 5 December, emphasizing that the NTC has the primary responsibility to protect the civilian population in CAR. The resolution granted a Chapter VII mandate to AU and French forces to protect civilians and restore security, imposed an arms embargo, and established a UN Commission of Inquiry.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: In the beginning, the international response to the coup was purely diplomatic: members of the International Contact Group insisted that Michel Djotodia respect the principles set out in the Libreville agreement. The African Union was the first to react when it announced a new African-led International Support Mission for CAR (MISCA) in July 2013. However, MISCA has not been effective in reversing the deteriorating security situation. Although its mandate is well-defined, there is general agreement that it does not have the resources to fulfill its mission. The UN General Assembly put CAR on the international agenda in September. Resolution 2121, adopted on 10 October 2013 and sponsored by France, strengthened and broadened the mandate of the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in the Central African Republic (BINUCA). Aware that MISCA alone is unable to adequately tackle the growing insecurity, France has changed its initial position from disengagement to military contribution, as announced by François Hollande on 20 November 2013, who said that French forces would be reinforced by almost 1,000 troops for a six-month period. France began to deploy troops in CAR after receiving authorization from the Security Council on 5 December 2013 with Resolution 2127, which authorizes MISCA and French forces to take "all necessary measures" to protect civilians and restore security in CAR. French soldiers immediately began to patrol in Bangui.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: On 7 February 2014, it was reported that the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said that she had "opened a preliminary investigation into possible war crimes in the Central African Republic".


title: Responsibility to protect

text: Over the last nine years, Syria has been in constant conflict. The war in Syria has directly killed 500,000 people, generated 5 million refugees, and internally displaced 7 million people. To help stop these atrocities the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), the UN, European Union, the League of Arab States, and other countries had agreed to meet to discuss the situation at stake. The conclusion was made that the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2254, which increased the delivery of humanitarian aid, as well as a nationwide cessation of hostilities, was required in order to help those in need. The Commission on Inquiry, mandated by the Human Rights Council, has found the Syrian government while working with allied militias, has committed large-scale massacres, perpetrated war crimes and gross violations of international humanitarian law as a matter of state policy. The Commission of Inquiry's third report had stated that the government had committed crimes against humanity through extermination, murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture, imprisonment, enforced disappearance, and other inhuman acts. Due to this statement, the UN Human Rights Council has adopted at least 16 different resolutions with regard to the atrocities taking place in Syria. Despite all efforts and resolutions adopted to help uphold R2P, humanitarian aid has had limited success in reaching the affected populations.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: The country of Burundi is at grave risk for a possible civil war, if violence is not stopped. The civilians of Burundi face the serious and eminent risk of mass atrocities due to the ongoing political violence that threatens the stability of Burundi. The citizens of Burundi are being harmed through mass atrocity crimes due to targeted killings, widespread violations and abuses of human rights. Violence had increased after President Pierre Nkurnziza had announced he was seeking a third term in the country’s elections, and instructing his citizens to disarm or face action by Burundian Security forces and be labeled enemies of the nation. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reports cases of sexual violence by security forces, hate speech, and incitement to violence by some government officials. Responses by the international community include a Security Council-mandated police force with the goal of monitoring the situation. This police force has been rejected by Burundi.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: With the current armed conflict in Yemen, many civilians are facing mass atrocity crimes. These crimes are a result of the violence between pro-government forces and regional military as they fight against the Houthi rebels. The Houthi rebels and pro-Saleh personnel currently control a majority of Yemen, including the country's capital, Sana’a. In addition to the violence between these groups the nation has also been barraged by Saudi-led airstrikes for years. Between 26 March 2015 and 8 November 2018, the conflict has resulted in over 6,872 civilian deaths, the majority of these from Saudi-led airstrikes. The violence has also led to 2.4 million Yemeni civilians being forcibly displaced leaving 82 percent of the population, equivalent to 21.2 million people, in need of humanitarian assistance. The ongoing violence in Yemen has allowed third-party armed groups, such as Al-Qaeda, to take advantage of the instability in the nation.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: Russia’s February 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine has already had an extreme impact on bordering countries. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have been flooding Romania, Poland, and other countries in search of safety. While Ukraine is not a part of NATO, and thus not entitled to the security protections offered by the thirty member nations, NATO Member States have considered the risk to sovereignty that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine poses. NATO allies are prepared to defend NATO territory if Russia were to attempt to expand its incursion on the territory of NATO Member States.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: Anne-Marie Slaughter from Princeton University has called R2P "the most important shift in our conception of sovereignty since the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648."


title: Responsibility to protect

text: Louise Arbour from the International Crisis Group said that "The responsibility to protect is the most important and imaginative doctrine to emerge on the international scene for decades."


title: Responsibility to protect

text: Francis Deng, former UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide, stated that "R2P is one of the most powerful and promising innovations on the international scene."


title: Responsibility to protect

text: Political scientist Alex Bellamy argues (i) that there is evidence of behavioral change in the way international society responds to mass killing and (ii) that R2P considerations have influenced behavior. On the first point, Bellamy argues that criticism of R2P as insufficient change is driven by a small subset of cases (Darfur, Libya and Syria) that are not indicative of strong trends. On the second point, Bellamy finds that R2P language is used in UNSC deliberations and in the rhetoric of world leaders.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: International relations professor Amitai Etzioni notes R2P challenges the Westphalian norm that state sovereignty is “absolute.” R2P establishes “conditional” state sovereignty contingent upon fulfilling certain domestic and international obligations. Etzioni considers the R2P norm of conditional sovereignty a communitarian approach as it recognizes states have the right to self-determination and self-governance, but they also have a responsibility to the international community to protect the environment, promote peace, and not harm their state’s inhabitants.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: One of the main concerns surrounding R2P is that it infringes upon national sovereignty. This concern is rebutted by the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in the report "Implementing the Responsibility to Protect". According to the first pillar of R2P, the state has the responsibility to protect its populations from mass atrocities and ethnic cleansing, and according to the second pillar the international community has the responsibility to help states fulfill their responsibility. Advocates of R2P claim that the only occasions where the international community will intervene in a state without its consent is when the state is either allowing mass atrocities to occur, or is committing them, in which case the state is no longer upholding its responsibilities as a sovereign. In this sense, R2P can be understood as reinforcing sovereignty. In 2004, the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, set up by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, endorsed the emerging norm of R2P, stating that there is a collective international responsibility "...exercisable by the Security Council authorizing military intervention as a last resort, in the event of genocide and other large-scale killing, ethnic cleansing, and serious violations of humanitarian law which sovereign governments have proved powerless or unwilling to prevent."


title: Responsibility to protect

text: On 19 March 2011, the Security Council approved Resolution 1973, which reiterated the responsibility of the Libyan authorities to protect the Libyan population. The UNSC resolution reaffirmed "that parties to armed conflicts bear the primary responsibility to take all feasible steps to ensure the protection of civilians." It demanded "an immediate ceasefire in Libya, including an end to the current attacks against civilians, which it said might constitute 'crimes against humanity'... It imposed a ban on all flights in the country's airspace, a no-fly zone, and tightened sanctions on the Gadaffi government and its supporters." The resolution passed, with 10 in favor, 0 against, and 5 abstentions. Two of the five abstentions were China and Russia, both of which are permanent members of the Security Council.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: India's UN Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri stated that "the Libyan case has already given R2P a bad name" and that "the only aspect of the resolution of interest to them (international community) was use of all necessary means to bomb the hell out of Libya". Puri also alleged that civilians had been supplied with arms and that the no-fly zone had been implemented only selectively.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: Critics, such as Russia and China, said that the intervening forces led by NATO in Libya had over-stepped their mandate by taking actions that ultimately led to the overthrow of Gaddafi. While the Security Council authorised an R2P-based intervention to protect against government reprisals in rebel-held Benghazi, the UN resolution was used to provide air support for the rebellion against Gaddafi, without which he would not have been overthrown. Critics said the actions of the West in Libya created global skepticism about proposals put to the UN by the West to intervene in Syria the same year, putting the future of R2P in question.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: Several attempts were made by the U.S. government in the course of 2011 to 2013 to pass Security Council resolutions invoking R2P to justify military intervention in the Syrian Civil War. These were vetoed by Russia and China. The Russian and Chinese governments both issued statements to the effect that, in their opinion, R2P had been abused by the U.S. as a pretext for "regime change", more particularly in the case of Libya, and that as far as they were concerned they would be extremely suspicious of any future Security Council resolutions invoking R2P, based on past experience. According to the UN's own 4 October 2011 coverage of the meeting of the Security Council:


title: Responsibility to protect

text: [Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin] was alarmed that compliance with Security Council resolutions in Libya had been considered a model for future actions by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It was important to see how that model had been implemented. The demand for a ceasefire had turned into a civil war, the humanitarian, social and military consequences of which had spilled beyond Libya. The arms embargo had turned into a naval blockade on west Libya. Such models should be excluded from global practice.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: […] [China's UN Ambassador Li Baodong] hoped that the [Syrian] Government would follow through on reform and a process of dialogue. The Council should encourage those objectives while respecting Syria's sovereignty's [sic] and territorial integrity. Any action it took should contribute to peace and stability and comply with the United Nations Charter principles of non-interference in internal affairs.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: The question of military intervention under the third pillar of R2P remains controversial. Several states have argued that R2P should not allow the international community to intervene militarily on states, because to do so is an infringement upon sovereignty. Others argue that this is a necessary facet of R2P, and is necessary as a last resort to stop mass atrocities. A related argument surrounds the question as to whether more specific criteria should be developed to determine when the Security Council should authorize military intervention.


title: Responsibility to protect

text: Political scientist Roland Paris, a proponent of R2P, argues that several problems regarding usefulness and legitimacy inherent to R2P make it vulnerable to criticism: "the more R2P is employed as a basis for military action, the more likely it is to be discredited, but paradoxically, the same will hold true if R2P’s coercive tools go unused." Paris lists the following problems as inherent to R2P, making it difficult for proponents of R2P to defend R2P and emboldening critics:


title: M. Jaishankar

text: M. Jaishankar (1977 – February 27, 2018), nicknamed Psycho Shankar, was an Indian criminal, sexual predator, and serial killer, notorious for a series of rapes and murders during 2008–2011. It is believed that he was involved in about 30 rapes, murders, and robbery cases across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. At the time of his death, he had been accused of murdering at least 19 women.


title: M. Jaishankar

text: Having been apprehended by Indian authorities, Jaishankar was imprisoned in Bangalore, where he was diagnosed as mentally ill. He subsequently committed suicide following an unsuccessful prison escape attempt in February 2018.


title: M. Jaishankar

text: Jaishankar, a son of Maari Muthu, came from the Kanniyanpatti village of Salem district, Tamil Nadu. In May 2011, he was reported to be a married man with three daughters. He started his career as a truck driver.


title: M. Jaishankar

text: Jaishankar started his criminal activities around 2008. His first crime to be reported happened on 3 July 2009, when he attempted to rape and murder 45-year-old P. Shyamala in Perandahalli. By August 2009, he had raped and murdered 12 women, and raped another six women. He always carried a black hand bag with him. He kept a machete in this bag, and killed whoever resisted him. He used to kidnap sex workers near dhabas (roadside restaurants) on highways, rape them and kill them brutally. He also targeted women in farm houses, in rural areas.


title: M. Jaishankar

text: On 23 August 2009, Jaishankar raped and murdered a 39-year-old police constable, M. Jayamani. Originally stationed at the Kangeyam all-women police station, Jayamani was on temporary duty at Perumanallur, during the visit of deputy chief minister M. K. Stalin. Jaishankar kidnapped her, and raped her several times before killing her. The police recovered Jayamani's body a month later, on 19 September.


title: M. Jaishankar

text: Jaishankar and his partner in crime P Mohan Selvam were charged with the murder of 50-year-old K. Thangammal Ponnaya in Namakkal on 10 September 2009. (Later, in 2014, the two were acquitted in this case, due to insufficient evidence resulting from lapses in investigation.)


title: M. Jaishankar

text: The Tiruppur police launched a manhunt for Jaishankar, and arrested him on 19 October 2009. He was jailed at the Coimbatore Central Prison. By this time, he had been charged with 13 separate counts of rape and murder in Tiruppur, Salem and Dharmapuri. He revealed, while remanded in custody, that he enjoyed torturing women before he raped and killed them.


title: M. Jaishankar

text: On 17 March 2011, the police took Jaishankar to a fast-track court in Dharmapuri, for a murder case trial. The next day, armed reserve police constables M. Chinnasamy and Rajavelu were assigned to escort him back to Coimbatore. On the way, Jaishankar managed to escape at the Salem bus stand, around 9:30 p.m. On 19 March, Chinnasamy committed suicide by shooting himself, apparently upset at the escape.


title: M. Jaishankar

text: Jaishankar escaped to Karnataka, where he raped and murdered six women in Bellary over the next month. He also killed a man and a child in Dharmapuri. In the last week of April 2011, the police traced his mobile phone to Delhi. The police initially believed that he had discarded his mobile phone in Delhi. However, in May 2011, the police traced his mobile calls to Mumbai, but he stopped using his mobile phone. A special team, comprising two sub-inspectors and 15 other police personnel, was assigned to find and arrest him.


title: M. Jaishankar

text: By May 2011, the police had put up wanted posters seeking information about Jaishankar, in public places across Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. On the night of 4 May 2011, Jaishankar reached Elagi village in Karnataka, on a stolen motorcycle. He approached a woman, Chandrakala Hotagi, who was working alone in a field, and asked her for water and food. He then tried to rape her, but Chandrakala raised the alarm. Her husband, Prakash Hotagi, and a friend came to her rescue. Jaishankar tried to flee, but was caught by Prakash and other villagers. The locals brought him to the Zalaki police station. He was handed over to the Chitradurga police on 5 May 2011.


title: M. Jaishankar

text: After his 2011 arrest, Jaishankar was kept at the Parappana Agrahara Central Jail in Bangalore. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison. At the Bangalore jail, he underwent treatment for psychiatric problems. On 31 August 2013, the police took Jaishankar to the court in Tumkur near Bangalore. After returning, Jaishankar feigned uneasiness and was admitted to the hospital within the prison premises. He managed to secure a duplicate key and used it at 2 a.m. on 1 September 2013, when the daily change of guards took place. The police suspected that an insider helped him get the duplicate key. He scaled a 20-foot (6.1 m) wall, then walked atop a 15-foot (4.6 m) wall and finally scaled the 30-foot (9.1 m) high compound wall. He managed to cross the electric fence safely, since it was not functional that night. He reportedly carried with him a bamboo pole balancing on the walls and a bedsheet to serve as a cushion over the glass pieces on the wall top. He was injured during the escape, and drops of blood were found outside the outer wall. He was reportedly wearing a police uniform during his escape. 11 jail staff, including three wardens, two jailors and six security guards, were suspended following his escape to reprimand them for allowing the escape.


title: M. Jaishankar

text: The police issued a red alert to all police stations in Karnataka, and urged women to be careful in isolated places. They announced a reward of  500,000 for any information leading to his arrest. They also analyzed his psychology and life history to predict his next actions. Besides this, the police printed 10,000 wanted posters and 75,000 pamphlets with different photographic profiles of Jaishankar, in five languages — Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu. Besides Karnataka, these posters and pamphlets were distributed across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra.


title: M. Jaishankar

text: During his escape, Jaishankar had fractured his leg while jumping from the 30-foot (9.1 m) high wall of the prison compound. He did not contact his family in Tamil Nadu. Soon after his escape, a police informant managed to get in touch with him. The informant lured him to a dilapidated building near the Kudlu gate in Bangalore, with the promise of a motorbike to facilitate his escape outside the city. There, the police arrested Jaishankar, at noon on 6 September 2013. The Government spent over  75,000 treating his fractured leg at the Victoria Hospital, where he was operated on, on 23 September.


title: M. Jaishankar

text: The surgery on his leg having been completed, Jaishankar was sent to Central Prison, Bangalore to begin serving his sentence. He was kept in a high-security cell, with 24/7 CCTV monitoring and extra lights. The lock of his cell was designed to be out of his reach. It was decided that in case of an illness, he would be treated inside his cell, instead of being taken to a hospital. The police also decided to deploy extra security while escorting him to trials to minimize the likelihood of an escape.


title: M. Jaishankar

text: On 25 February 2018, Jaishankar unsuccessfully tried to effect another escape from the Bangalore Central Prison. After this plot failed, he was held in solitary confinement.


title: M. Jaishankar

text: Subsequently, on 27 February, he committed suicide by slitting his own throat with a shaving blade, which he had acquired from a barber the day before. The jail staff found him lying in a pool of blood at around 2:30 a.m., during their daily rounds, and provided him first aid. He was later moved to Victoria Hospital, where he was declared dead at 5:10 a.m.


title: Vijayendra Ghatge

text: Vijayendra Ghatge is an Indian actor in Bollywood film and television. He is known for his role of Lala Vrishbhaan in the TV serial "Buniyaad" that originally aired on DD National in 1986. Among other serials and several films, he is also known for his roles in "Chitchor" (1976), "Prem Rog" (1982) and more recently "Devdas" (2002) and "Jhankaar Beats" (2003).


title: Vijayendra Ghatge

text: Ghatge is a member of the Maratha royal family of Kagal. He is thus a cousin of the Maharaja of Kolhapur. Ghatge's mother, Sitaraje Ghatge, is the daughter of the Maharaja Maharaja Tukojirao Holkar III of Indore (reigned 1903–1926) by his American-born third wife Nancy Miller, who was formally adopted by the Maharaja's aunt and took the name Sharmishtha Devi Holkar upon marrying the Maharaja. He is the uncle of Indian actress Sagarika Ghatge (sometimes mistakenly considered as her father).


title: Vijayendra Ghatge

text: He is married to Avantika Ghatge who was formerly working as head of department of Fine Arts at Daly College Indore together they have a daughter Umikaa Ghatge, who studied at Daly College, Indore and is a freelance content writer.


title: Vijayendra Ghatge

text: Educated in the Daly College, Indore, Ghatge was the Head Prefect & Sword of Honour holder (Flight Sergeant Airwing NCC). After doing B.Com Honours (Management) from Sydenham College of Commerce, Bombay he graduated in acting course from the FTII, Pune.


title: Vijayendra Ghatge

text: Ghatge started his film career with a supporting role in Rajshri Productions' 1976 Hindi film "Chitchor". Directed by Basu Chatterjee, the film was a box office "Superhit". Thereafter, he did various supporting roles in films like "Kasme Vaade" (1978), "Tere Pyar Mein", "Prem Rog" (1982) and "Razia Sultan" (1983). In the mid-1980s, Ghatge began appearing in television serials. His character role of Lala Vrishbhaan, played in the 1986–87 classic serial "Buniyaad" made him a household name.


title: Vijayendra Ghatge

text: In 2002, Ghatge appeared in the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed "Devdas" in the role of Bhuvan Choudhary, the aging husband of the heroine, Paro, played by Aishwarya Rai.


title: Icky Thump

text: Icky Thump is the sixth and final studio album by American rock duo The White Stripes, released through Warner Bros. and Third Man Records in June 2007, with XL Recordings handling the United Kingdom release. Its first release came on June 15, 2007, in Germany, with the release for the rest of Europe occurring on June 18 and the rest of the world on June 19.


title: Icky Thump

text: "Icky Thump" entered the UK Albums Chart at number one and debuted at number two on the "Billboard" 200, becoming the duo's highest-charting album in the US, with 223,000 copies sold. By late July, "Icky Thump" was certified gold in the United States. On February 10, 2008, the album won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.


title: Icky Thump

text: After "Get Behind Me Satan", "Icky Thump" marks a return to the punk, garage rock and blues influences for which the band is known. Additionally, the album introduces Scottish folk music, avant-garde, trumpet, and bagpipes into the formula, whilst simultaneously reintroducing older characteristics such as the first studio recording of the early White Stripes song "Little Cream Soda".


title: Icky Thump

text: "Icky Thump" was recorded and mixed entirely in analog at Nashville's Blackbird Studio by Joe Chiccarelli. According to Chiccarelli in an interview with HitQuarters, the band had already rehearsed and demoed around half the album, with the rest being conceived in the studio. The album took almost three weeks to record—the longest of any White Stripes album. The recording differed from previous albums in that White had the comparative luxury of recording to 16-track analog rather than his usual 8-track. Also, Chiccarelli said: "We spent a little more time than he is used to experimenting and trying different things on that album, whether it was different ways to record the drums or the vocals, or different arrangements, or cutting takes together." Trumpet player Regulo Aldama, who appears on "Conquest", was discovered by Jack White at a local Mexican restaurant.


title: Icky Thump

text: Jack White said that the album would appeal to fans of the band's self-titled debut, suggesting a stripped-down garage rock sound. A statement on the band's official website (spuriously attributed to "Kitayna Ireyna Tatanya Kerenska Alisof" of the "Moscow Bugle", a reference to the 1966 "Batman" film) humorously claims that:


title: Icky Thump

text: "Entertainment Weekly"'s online site had an interview with Michel Gondry in which he said he would be directing a video for "I'm Slowly Turning Into You". He mentions the idea for the video. Gondry also says that the video idea came first, and after mentioning the idea to Jack White, White wrote the song to fit that idea.


title: Icky Thump

text: On May 30, 2007, Chicago radio station Q101 aired the entire album without the band's permission. Jack called into the station and reacted angrily about them playing it. In the liner notes of "Icky Thump", "Electra" is thanked on the second line, just after God. According to Ben Blackwell, Jack White's nephew, this is not directed towards the radio DJ, Electra, but to a pet Jack and Meg White used to have.


title: Icky Thump

text: The White Stripes announced the completion of "Icky Thump" on February 28, 2007. The title is derived from "ecky thump", a Lancashire colloquial response of surprise, popularized by an episode of the 1970s UK comedy series "The Goodies". On "Later with Jools Holland" (broadcast June 1, 2007) Jack attributed the album's name to its use as an exclamation by his wife, who is from Oldham, historically in Lancashire. He added that the deliberate misspelling was to make it easier for an American audience to identify with. The liner notes for "Icky Thump" also suggest the spelling variation was due to concerns over copyright infringement.


title: Icky Thump

text: The Pearly Kings and Queens costume theme, which the band used for this album, is a traditional Cockney outfit, somewhat contrary to the Northern dialect of the title.


title: Icky Thump

text: Jack White told "Blender" in July 2007 that "Icky Thump" "is about feeling positive about being alive, taking deep breaths and just being really happy."


title: Icky Thump

text: To promote "Icky Thump" before its release, the band distributed custom-designed boxes and previewed tracks from the record through Ice Cream Man. The ice cream promotion focused on the Coachella, Sasquatch, and Bonnaroo festivals and culminated in the band's release show on June 20, 2007 at the site of the former West Hollywood Tower Records on Sunset Blvd., temporarily rechristened Icky Thump. Records.


title: Icky Thump

text: In addition to being released on CD and 180 gram vinyl, the band released the album on a limited edition 512 MB USB drive which was designed by British artist Stanley Chow There are two versions, one of which depicts Jack, the other depicting Meg. The manufacturing was limited to 3,333 of each, and were shipped the week of the U.S. release. Each drive contained the album in Apple lossless format.


title: Icky Thump

text: The 180 g vinyl edition contains alternate versions of both "Icky Thump" and "Rag and Bone". "Icky Thump" is a shorter, radio edit mix with. It contains a short section where the main guitar riff is mixed to sound like it's being played through an AM radio. This mix also edits the penultimate chorus to be 14 seconds shorter before the guitar solo. "Rag and Bone" is also a different mix and contains different Jack White vocals for each verse (possibly the original guide vocals and there are no vocals from Meg) and is missing the harmonies from the last chorus.


title: Icky Thump

text: A special mono mix of "Icky Thump" was available on 180 gram vinyl for a short time to Third Man Vault Premium Account subscribers.


title: Icky Thump

text: The album received critical acclaim, with an overall average rating of 80 out of 100 at Metacritic. Barry Nicolson with British magazine "NME" wrote, ""Icky Thump" is brilliant, there's no way around that." Commenting on the album's "fuller sound and relaxed flights of fancy," Heather Phares of AllMusic said ""Icky Thump" is a mature, but far from stodgy" album, and that "it's just great fun to hear the band play." Jody Rosen, writing for "Blender", called the album "the sound of a band not stretching out so much as digging in: burrowing deeper into loamy soil they know well." In one of the more negative reviews, Josh Tyrangiel of "Time" remarked, "The White Stripes are too weird and talented to be boring, but it sounds like they might be a little bored." Ultimately giving the album 3.5 out of 5 stars and giving an (A-) on his website, Robert Christgau, with "Rolling Stone", summed up the return album this way "Although the new constructions don't entice as consistently as they should, their noise stays with you. And what that noise stands for is itself." He added, "Like his sometime heroes Led Zeppelin, Jack White builds monuments. They're suitable for awestruck visits. But they're no place to settle down."


title: Icky Thump

text: On December 6, 2007, "Icky Thump" was nominated for four 2007 Grammy Awards: Best Alternative Album, Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package, Best Rock Song, and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the single "Icky Thump", winning Best Alternative Album and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal. Q Magazine named Icky Thump as the 2nd best album of 2007. Furthermore, the album placed #17 on "Rolling Stone"s list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007.


The 2022 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup is the twelfth season of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup since its inception in 2011 as the Blancpain Endurance Series.


title: 2022 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup

text: The season began on 1 April at Imola and will end on 2 October at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. In a change from the 2021 schedule, the round at the Nürburgring was moved to the Hockenheimring. On 29 October 2021, a second change to the schedule was announced, moving the opening round from Monza to Imola and staging the event one week earlier.


text: Championship points are awarded for the first ten positions in each race. The pole-sitter also receives one point and entries are required to complete 75% of the winning car's race distance in order to be classified and earn points. Individual drivers are required to participate for a minimum of 25 minutes in order to earn championship points in any race.


title: Nigerian Americans

text: ) are an ethnic group of Americans who are of Nigerian ancestry. The number of Nigerian immigrants residing in the United States is rapidly growing, expanding from a small 1980 population of 25,000. The 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) estimated that 461,695 U.S. residents were of Nigerian ancestry. The 2019 ACS further estimated that around 392,811 of these (85%) had been born in Nigeria. Similar to its status as the most populous country in Africa, Nigeria is also the African country with the most migrants to the United States, as of 2013. In a study which was carried out by consumer genetics company 23andMe which involved the DNA of 50,281 people of African descent in the United States, Latin America and western Europe, It was revealed that Nigeria was the most common country of origin for testers from the US, the French Caribbean, and the British Caribbean. Nigerian-Americans, like British Nigerians, predominantly originate from southern Nigeria, as opposed to the Islamic northern half of the country.


title: Nigerian Americans

text: The first people of ancestry from what is now modern Nigeria to arrive in what is now the modern United States were brought by force as slaves. Calabar and Badagry (Gberefu Island), Nigeria, became major points of export of enslaved people from Africa to the Americas during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most slave ships frequenting this port were English. Most of the slaves of Bight of Biafra – many of whom hailed from the Igbo hinterland – were trafficked to Virginia. After 400 years in the United States and the lack of documentation because of enslavement, African Americans have often been unable to track their ancestors to specific ethnic groups or regions of Africa. Like Americans of other origins, at this point most African Americans have ancestors of a variety of ethnic backgrounds. Most of the people who were stolen from Nigeria were likely to have been, Igbo or Yoruba. Other ethnic groups, such as the Fulani and Edo people were also captured and transported to the colonies in the New World. The Igbo were exported mainly to Maryland and Virginia. They comprised the majority of all enslaved Africans in Virginia during the 18th century: of the 37,000 Africans trafficked to Virginia from Calabar during the eighteenth century, 30,000 were Igbo. In the next century, people of Igbo descent were taken with settlers who moved to Kentucky. According to some historians, the Igbo also comprised most of the slaves in Maryland. This group was characterized by high rates of rebellion and suicide, as the people resisted and fought back against enslavement. Lot of Nigerians of Igbo origin were also brought into the U.S. in the late 1960s as war refugees during Nigerian civil war.


title: Nigerian Americans

text: Some Nigerian ethnic groups, such as the Yoruba, and some northern Nigerian ethnic groups, had traditional, cultural identification marks, such as tattoo and scarification designs. These could have assisted a kidnapped and enslaved person who escaped in locating other members of their ethnic group, but few enslaved people managed to escape the colonies. In the colonies, slavers tried to dissuade the practice of traditional tribal customs. They also mixed people of different ethnic groups to make it more difficult for them to communicate and band together in rebellion.


title: Nigerian Americans

text: U.S. President Thomas Jefferson officially outlawed the Atlantic slave trade in 1808, although some enslaved Africans continued to be illegally smuggled into the country and the institution of slavery persisted until the American Civil War.


title: Nigerian Americans

text: In modern times, most Americans of unambiguous Nigerian ancestry are voluntary immigrants and their descendants. Various leaders of the Nigerian independence movement such as Eyo Ita, Mbonu Ojike, and Nnamdi Azikiwe were educated in the United States during the 1930s-1940s. When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, U.S. restrictions on immigration from regions outside of Northwestern Europe were eliminated, allowing for a greater number of Nigerians in the United States.


title: Nigerian Americans

text: The modern generation of Nigerian migrants was initially motivated by the desire to pursue educational opportunities in undergraduate and postgraduate institutions in the United States. During the 1960s and the 1970s aftermath of the Nigerian-Biafran War, the Nigerian government funded the education of Nigerian students attending U.S. universities. While this was occurring, there were several military coups, interspersed with brief periods of civilian rule. The instability resulted in many Nigerian professionals emigrating, especially doctors, lawyers and academics, who found it difficult to return to Nigeria.


title: Nigerian Americans

text: During the mid- to late-1980s, a larger wave of Nigerians immigrated to the United States. This migration was driven by political and economic problems exacerbated by the military regimes of self-styled generals Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha. Other émigrés comprised a large number of refugees, fleeing on account of religious persecutions, endless political unrests and ethnic/tribal conflicts, the presumption of Nigeria as a failing state, or just to enhance the quality of lives for themselves and their families (Ogbuagu, 2013). The most noticeable exodus occurred among professional and middle-class Nigerians who, along with their children, took advantage of education and employment opportunities in the United States.


title: Nigerian Americans

text: This exodus contributed to a "brain-drain" of Nigeria's intellectual resources to the detriment of its future. Since the advent of multi-party democracy in March 1999, the former Nigerian head-of-state Olusegun Obasanjo has made numerous appeals, especially to young Nigerian professionals in the United States, to return to Nigeria to help in its rebuilding effort. Obasanjo's efforts have met with mixed results, as some potential migrants consider Nigeria's socio-economic situation still unstable (Ogbuagu, 2013b).


title: Nigerian Americans

text: Since 1980, the estimated population of foreign-born Nigerians has grown from 25,000 to 392,811 in 2019.


title: Nigerian Americans

text: According to Rice University research, Nigerian Americans are the most educated group in the United States.


title: Nigerian Americans

text: According to the 2008-2012 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, 61.4% of Nigerian Americans aged 25 years or older hold a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 28.5% of the total U.S. population. The Migration Policy Institute reports that 29% of Nigerian Americans have a master's degree, PhD, or an advanced professional degree (compared to 11% of the U.S population overall). Nigerian Americans are also known for their contributions to medicine, science, technology, arts and literature.


title: Nigerian Americans

text: Nigerian culture has long emphasized education, placing value on pursuing academic excellence as a means to financial security. Examples of Nigerian Americans in education include Akintunde Akinwande, Oyekunle Olukotun, Jacob Olupona and Dehlia Umunna, professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and Harvard University respectively. Recent famous examples include ImeIme Umana, the first Black woman to be elected president of the Harvard Law Review, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the first woman to become the head of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and Tanitoluwa Adewumi, a homeless child refugee who went on to become a chess prodigy. Examples of Nigerian Americans in popular media include Dr. Bennet Omalu, portrayed in the 2015 film "Concussion", and Emmanuel Acho, host of the weekly activist webcast "Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man".


title: Nigerian Americans

text: A large percentage of Black students at highly selective top universities are immigrants or children of immigrants. Harvard University, for example, has estimated that more than one-third of its Black student body consists of recent immigrants or their children, or were of mixed-race parentage. Other top universities, including Yale, Princeton, Penn, Columbia, Rice, Duke and Berkeley, report a similar pattern. As a result, there is a question as to whether affirmative action programs adequately reach their original targets: African Americans who are descendants of American slaves and their discriminatory history in the US.


title: Nigerian Americans

text: According to the 2021 Open Doors report, the top five U.S. institutions with the largest student population of Nigerian descent (in no particular order) are Texas Southern University, University of Houston, University of Texas at Arlington, University of North Texas, and Houston Community College. According to Institute of International Education's 2017 Open Doors report, 11,710 international students from Nigeria studied in the U.S. during the 2016–17 academic year, the 12th highest country of origin and highest of any African country.


title: Nigerian Americans

text: In 2017, sociologist Onoso Imoagene argued that second generation Nigerian-Americans are forming a distinct "diasporic Nigerian ethnicity" rather than assimilating into the mainstream African-American culture, in contrast to what should have been predicted by segmented assimilation theory. Limited sociological research suggests that Nigerian-Americans may have a more positive opinion of the American police compared to the broader black community. The Marshall Project and Prison Legal News have reported that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice heavily recruits Nigerians to serve as guards in Texas prisons, where a significant proportion of the prisoners are black.


title: Nigerian Americans

text: As of 2013, the World Bank estimated that 252,172 Nigerian migrants live in the US. This is 23% of all Nigerian migrants, the most of any destination country. Nigerian migrants represent 0.5% of all migrants in the US, the 32nd highest of all US source countries.


title: Nigerian Americans

text: The 2012-2016 ACS estimates that 277,027 American residents were born in Nigeria. It also estimates that these states have the highest Nigerian-born population:


title: Nigerian Americans

text: In terms of religion, the Nigerian community in the United States is split, as approximately 70% practice Christianity while 28% follow Islam and the remainder practice other religions (2%) .


title: Nigerian Americans

text: Among Nigerian Americans, traditional Nigerian attire remains very popular. However, because the fabric is often hard to acquire outside of Nigeria, traditional attire is not worn on an everyday basis but rather, reserved for special occasions such as weddings, Independence Day celebrations, birthday ceremonies and Muslim Eid celebrations. For weddings, the fabric used to sew the outfit of the bride and groom is usually directly imported from Nigeria or bought from local Nigerian traders and then taken to a local tailor who then sews it into the preferred style. Due to the large number of Nigerians living in America and the cultural enrichment that these communities provide to non-Nigerians, the traditional attire has been adopted in many parts of the country as a symbol of African ethnicity, for example, clothes worn during Kwanzaa celebrations are known to be very influenced by Nigerian traditional attire. In recent years, the traditional fabric has attracted many admirers especially among celebrities such as Solange Knowles and most notably Erykah Badu. On the fashion runway, Nigerian American designers like Boston-born Kiki Kimanu are able to combine the rich distinct colors of traditional attire with Western styles to make clothes that are highly sought after by young Nigerian professionals and Americans alike.


title: Nigerian Americans

text: Nigerian-Americans can be subdivided into Nigeria's three largest ethnic groups - the Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa-Fulani.


title: Nigerian Americans

text: Igbo Americans are people in the United States that maintain an identity of a varying level of Igbo ethnic group that now call the United States their chief place of residence (and may also have US citizenship). Many moved to the US following the effects of the Biafran War (1967–1970).


title: Nigerian Americans

text: Yoruba Americans are Americans of Yoruba descent. The Yoruba people ("") are an ethnic group originating in southwestern Nigeria and southern Benin in West Africa.The first Yoruba people who arrived to the United States were imported as slaves from Nigeria and Benin during the Atlantic slave trade. This ethnicity of the slaves was one of the main origins of present-day Nigerians who arrived to the United States, along with the Igbos. In addition, native slaves of current Benin hailed from peoples such as Nago (Yoruba subgroup, although exported mainly by Spanish, when Louisiana was Spanish), Ewe, Fon and Gen. Many slaves imported to the modern United States from Benin were sold by the King of Dahomey, in Whydah.


title: Nigerian Americans

text: The native tongue of the Yoruba people is spoken principally in Nigeria and Benin, with communities in other parts of Africa, Europe and the Americas. A variety of the language, Lucumi, is the liturgical language of the Santería religion of the Caribbean.


title: Nigerian Americans

text: Fulani and Hausa Americans are people in the United States that maintain a cultural identity of various levels from the Fulani and Hausa clans and now call the United States home. Most speak Hausa as well as English fluently and Arabic on various levels. The first wave of Fulani and Hausa immigrants arrived as a result of the Atlantic Slave trade. Recent Fulani and Hausa arrivals immigrated to the United States during the 1990s. They now make up a large percentage of the Muslim communities across America.


title: Brady Manek

text: Brady Reece Manek (born September 4, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the Perth Wildcats of the National Basketball League (NBL). He played college basketball for the Oklahoma Sooners and the North Carolina Tar Heels.


title: Brady Manek

text: Manek was born and raised in Edmond, Oklahoma and started playing basketball from a young age against older competition. He often played against future college teammate Trae Young while attending elementary school. His family moved to Harrah, Oklahoma, where he began playing varsity basketball for Harrah High School in his freshman season. Between his freshman and sophomore years, Manek greatly improved his dunking ability. He was named Little All-City Player of the Year by "The Oklahoman" in each of his final two seasons. As a senior, Manek averaged 24.3 points and 11.6 rebounds, leading Harrah to the state quarterfinals. Rated either a three-star and four-star recruit by several services, he committed to play college basketball for Oklahoma after his sophomore season of high school.


title: Brady Manek

text: As a freshman at Oklahoma, Manek averaged 10.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game in 32 appearances. He and Trae Young were the highest scoring freshman duo in the NCAA Division I. Manek recorded 59 three-pointers, the fourth-most by a freshman in school history. In his sophomore season, he made national headlines for his resemblance to Larry Bird. He averaged 12.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game as a sophomore and was an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection. On January 18, 2020, Manek scored a career-high 31 points and seven three-pointers, while reaching 1,000 career points, in an 83–63 win over TCU. Manek scored 30 points on February 1, in an 82–69 victory over Oklahoma State. As a junior, he averaged 14.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game, earning Third Team All-Big 12 honors. In his senior season, Manek averaged 10.8 points and five rebounds per game. Following the season, he transferred to North Carolina.


title: Brady Manek

text: After four years at Oklahoma, Manek transferred to North Carolina as a graduate student. He took advantage of the extra year of NCAA eligibility granted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to play in Chapel Hill. After being used primarily as the sixth man for the first part of the season, Manek was inserted to the starting lineup following an injury to Dawson Garcia. Manek's elevation to the starting five coincided with a turnaround in the Tar Heels' fortunes, as the team was able to play their way to a tie for second place in the ACC regular season standings and the third seed in the conference's tournament. He scored 20 points in the Tar Heels' 94–81 victory in the regular-season finale against Duke. Following the regular season, Manek was named Honorable Mention All-ACC. In the first round of the NCAA tournament against Marquette, Manek scored a season-high 28 points, three shy of his career high. He scored 26 points in just 28 minutes of action against Baylor in the second round of the tournament. Manek was ejected from the game following a flagrant 2 foul on Baylor's Jeremy Sochan. At the time, the Tar Heels held a 25-point lead. Following the ejection, Baylor was able to come back and force overtime, but the Tar Heels held on and advanced to the Sweet 16, 93–86.


title: Brady Manek

text: On April 1, 2022, Manek was named as the recipient of the Riley Wallace Player of the Year Award, given to the top transfer player in college basketball.


title: Brady Manek

text: After going undrafted in the 2022 NBA draft, Manek joined the Charlotte Hornets for the 2022 NBA Summer League. On August 1, 2022, he signed with the Perth Wildcats in Australia for the 2022–23 NBL season.


title: Brady Manek

text: Manek's older brother, Kellen, was his basketball teammate at Harrah High School for three years and played for Oral Roberts and Southeastern Oklahoma State.


title: Purple Kiss

text: Purple Kiss (Korean: 퍼플키스; Japanese: パープルキス; stylized in all caps) is a South Korean girl group formed by RBW in 2020. The group consists of six members: Na Go-eun, Dosie, Ireh, Yuki, Chaein, and Swan. Originally a seven member group, Park Ji-eun left the group on November 18th, 2022 due to poor health issues. They are considered to be a self-producing group, with members involved in songwriting, composing, and other aspects of their music and showmanship.


title: Purple Kiss

text: The group released two pre-debut digital singles—"My Heart Skip a Beat" in November 2020, and "Can We Talk Again" in February 2021—before their official debut on March 15, 2021, with the EP "Into Violet".


title: Purple Kiss

text: The group's name is a compound word: "purple" with the idea that the color is made through more than one color; and the word "kiss" symbolizing love. It imprints on the aspect of the diverse personalities of each member's musical color mixed in harmony, hence, the meaning of Purple Kiss is to "convey love through various colors of music."


title: Purple Kiss

text: Purple Kiss, then known as 365 Practice, began activities through an eponymous YouTube channel in March 2018, used by RBW to highlight their female trainees' daily lives, school activities, and practices. The channel introduced all seven future members of Purple Kiss, alongside other trainees who were not added to the final lineup.


title: Purple Kiss

text: During and prior to this period, multiple members appeared on various Korean reality shows and participated in other domestic activities. In 2011 and 2014, Chaein appeared on "K-pop Star" for seasons 1 and 3"." In late 2017, Dosie competed on "Mix Nine," ranking 74th. In June 2018, Park Ji-eun and Na Go-eun competed on "Produce 48," placing 80th and 29th respectively.


title: Purple Kiss

text: On May 25, 2019, 365 Practice held their "All-Ways" mini-concert at RBW Art Hall to commemorate 100,000 YouTube subscribers. In July 2019, Swan recorded the guide vocals for "Snapping" by Chungha. On November 2, 2019, they accompanied Mamamoo's Moonbyul to perform for charity at the Seongdong Fashion Sewing Village Festival.


title: Purple Kiss

text: In their later trainee days, members participated music projects such as LunCHbox, with Dosie, Swan, and Go-eun joining the line-up of featured artists. Yuki and Lee Ye-sol, a former trainee, were featured in Hwang Sung-jin's album "Hwang Sung Jin Project Secondary words Vol.2" on the track "Be With You." Go-eun recorded the single "Fly" for the soundtrack of the 2019 television series "Possessed." On May 26, 2020, the entire group appeared as dancers in Onewe's "End of Spring" music video, alongside Oneus.


title: Purple Kiss

text: On June 19, 2020, a debut trailer was released on the 365 Practice channel, officially announcing the group's name as Purple Kiss. The final line-up—consisting of Park Ji-eun, Na Go-eun, Dosie, Ireh, Yuki, Chaein, and Swan—was revealed from July 20 to August 1 with individual music video trailers introducing each of the members, culminating in a group trailer on August 3, 2020.


title: Purple Kiss

text: Purple Kiss released their first pre-debut digital single, "My Heart Skip a Beat" on November 26, 2020. Swan did not participate in the single or its music video due to a temporary health-related hiatus. The song received positive attention from Korean media, and featured choreography created by the members as well as an original rap section written by Yuki. The group's second pre-debut single, "Can We Talk Again," was released on February 3, 2021, and featured all seven members. The single, a subdued R&B track, contrasted significantly with the rock-inspired "My Heart Skip a Beat," meant to showcase the group's musical versatility.


title: Purple Kiss

text: On February 28, Purple Kiss announced their debut, which would be the EP "Into Violet". It was released on March 15. with the second track "Ponzona" serving as the EP's lead single with an accompanying music video. "Into Violet" peaked at number 11 on the Gaon Album Chart whilst "Ponzona" at number 99 on the Download Chart.


title: Purple Kiss

text: On September 8, Purple Kiss released their second EP "Hide & Seek", with the lead single "Zombie". The lead single was co-written by Yuki, alongside labelmate CyA, with the group having writing and composing credits for most of the songs on the album.


title: Purple Kiss

text: On March 29, 2022, Purple Kiss released their third EP "MemeM", with the lead single of the same name.


title: Purple Kiss

text: On November 18, 2022, RBW announced that Park Ji-eun had made the decision to leave the group due to her poor health condition and anxiety symptoms, making Purple Kiss a six-member group.


title: Embryophyte

text: The Embryophyta (), or land plants, are the most familiar group of green plants that comprise vegetation on Earth. Embryophytes () have a common ancestor with green algae, having emerged within the Phragmoplastophyta clade of green algae as sister of the Zygnematophyceae. The Embryophyta consist of the bryophytes plus the polysporangiophytes. Living embryophytes therefore include hornworts, liverworts, mosses, lycophytes, ferns, gymnosperms and flowering plants. The land plants have diplobiontic life cycles and it is accepted now that they emerged from freshwater, multi-celled algae.


title: Embryophyte

text: The embryophytes are informally called land plants because they live primarily in terrestrial habitats (with exceptional members who evolved to live once again in aquatic habitats), while the related green algae are primarily aquatic. Embryophytes are complex multicellular eukaryotes with specialized reproductive organs. The name derives from their innovative characteristic of nurturing the young embryo sporophyte during the early stages of its multicellular development within the tissues of the parent gametophyte. With very few exceptions, embryophytes obtain their energy by photosynthesis, that is by using the energy of sunlight to synthesize their food from carbon dioxide and water.


title: Embryophyte

text: The Embryophytes emerged a half-billion years ago, at some time in the interval between the mid-Cambrian and early Ordovician, probably from terrestrial multicellular charophytes, a clade of green algae similar to extant Klebsormidiophyceae. The emergence of the Embryophytes depleted atmospheric CO (a greenhouse gas), leading to global cooling, and thereby precipitating glaciations. Embryophytes are primarily adapted for life on land, although some are secondarily aquatic. Accordingly, they are often called "land plants" or "terrestrial plants".


title: Embryophyte

text: On a microscopic level, the cells of charophytes are broadly similar to those of chlorophyte green algae, but differ in that in cell division the daughter nuclei are separated by a phragmoplast. They are eukaryotic, with a cell wall composed of cellulose and plastids surrounded by two membranes. The latter include chloroplasts, which conduct photosynthesis and store food in the form of starch, and are characteristically pigmented with chlorophylls "a" and "b", generally giving them a bright green color. Embryophyte cells also generally have an enlarged central vacuole enclosed by a vacuolar membrane or tonoplast, which maintains cell turgor and keeps the plant rigid.


title: Embryophyte

text: In common with all groups of multicellular algae they have a life cycle which involves 'alternation of generations'. A multicellular generation with a single set of chromosomes – the haploid gametophyte – produces sperm and eggs which fuse and grow into a multicellular generation with twice the number of chromosomes – the diploid sporophyte. The mature sporophyte produces haploid spores which grow into a gametophyte, thus completing the cycle. Embryophytes have two features related to their reproductive cycles which distinguish them from all other plant lineages. Firstly, their gametophytes produce sperm and eggs in multicellular structures (called 'antheridia' and 'archegonia'), and fertilization of the ovum takes place within the archegonium rather than in the external environment. Secondly, and most importantly, the initial stage of development of the fertilized egg (the zygote) into a diploid multicellular sporophyte, takes place within the archegonium where it is both protected and provided with nutrition. This second feature is the origin of the term 'embryophyte' – the fertilized egg develops into a protected embryo, rather than dispersing as a single cell. In the bryophytes the sporophyte remains dependent on the gametophyte, while in all other embryophytes the sporophyte generation is dominant and capable of independent existence.


title: Embryophyte

text: Embryophytes also differ from algae by having metamers. Metamers are repeated units of development, in which each unit derives from a single cell, but the resulting product tissue or part is largely the same for each cell. The whole organism is thus constructed from similar, repeating parts or "metamers". Accordingly, these plants are sometimes termed 'metaphytes' and classified as the group Metaphyta (but Haeckel's definition of Metaphyta places some algae in this group). In all land plants a disc-like structure called a phragmoplast forms where the cell will divide, a trait only found in the land plants in the streptophyte lineage, some species within their relatives Coleochaetales, Charales and Zygnematales, as well as within subaerial species of the algae order Trentepohliales, and appears to be essential in the adaptation towards a terrestrial life style.


title: Embryophyte

text: All green algae and land plants are now known to form a single evolutionary lineage or clade, one name for which is Viridiplantae (i.e. 'green plants'). According to several molecular clock estimates the Viridiplantae split to into two clades: chlorophytes and streptophytes. The chlorophytes are considerably more diverse (with around 700 genera) and were originally marine, although some groups have since spread into fresh water. The streptophyte algae (i.e. the streptophyte clade minus the land plants) are less diverse (with around 122 genera) and adapted to fresh water very early in their evolutionary history. They have not spread into marine environments (only a few stoneworts, which belong to this group, tolerate brackish water). Some time during the Ordovician period (which started around ) one or more streptophytes invaded the land and began the evolution of the embryophyte land plants. Present day embryophytes form a monophyletic group called the hemitracheophytes.


title: Embryophyte

text: Becker and Marin speculate that land plants evolved from streptophytes rather than any other group of algae because streptophytes were adapted to living in fresh water. This prepared them to tolerate a range of environmental conditions found on land. Fresh water living made them tolerant of exposure to rain; living in shallow pools required tolerance to temperature variation, high levels of ultra-violet light and seasonal dehydration.


title: Embryophyte

text: Relationships between the groups making up Viridiplantae are still being elucidated. Views have changed considerably since 2000 and classifications have not yet caught up. However, the division between chlorophytes and streptophytes and the evolution of embryophytes from within the latter group, as shown in the cladogram below, are well established. Three approaches to classification are shown. Older classifications, as on the left, treated all green algae as a single division of the plant kingdom under the name Chlorophyta. Land plants were then placed in separate divisions. All the streptophyte algae can be grouped into one paraphyletic taxon, as in the middle, allowing the embryophytes to form a taxon at the same level. Alternatively, the embryophytes can be sunk into a monophyletic taxon comprising all the streptophytes, as shown below. A variety of names have been used for the different groups which result from these approaches; those used below are only one of a number of possibilities. The higher-level classification of the Viridiplantae varies considerably, resulting in widely different ranks being assigned to the embryophytes, from kingdom to class.


title: Embryophyte

text: The precise relationships within the streptophytes are less clear . The stoneworts (Charales) have traditionally been identified as closest to the embryophytes, but recent work suggests that either the Zygnematales or a clade consisting of the Zygnematales and the Coleochaetales may be the sister group to the land plants. That the Zygnematales (or Zygnematophyceae) are the closest algal relatives to land plants was underpinned by an exhaustive phylogenetic analysis (phylogenomics) performed in 2014, which is supported by both plastid genome phylogenies as well as plastid gene content and properties.


title: Embryophyte

text: The preponderance of molecular evidence as of 2006 suggested that the groups making up the embryophytes are related as shown in the cladogram below (based on Qiu "et al." 2006 with additional names from Crane "et al." 2004).


title: Embryophyte

text: Studies based on morphology rather than on genes and proteins have regularly reached different conclusions; for example that neither the monilophytes (ferns and horsetails) nor the gymnosperms are a natural or monophyletic group.


title: Embryophyte

text: There is considerable variation in how these relationships are converted into a formal classification. Consider the angiosperms or flowering plants. Many botanists, following Lindley in 1830, have treated the angiosperms as a division. Palaeobotanists have usually followed Banks in treating the tracheophytes or vascular plants as a division, so that the angiosperms become a class or even a subclass. Two very different systems are shown below. The classification on the left is a traditional one, in which ten living groups are treated as separate divisions; the classification on the right (based on Kenrick and Crane's 1997 treatment) sharply reduces the rank of groups such as the flowering plants. (More complex classifications are needed if extinct plants are included.)


title: Embryophyte

text: An updated phylogeny of Embryophytes based on the work by Novíkov & Barabaš-Krasni 2015 and Hao and Xue 2013 with plant taxon authors from Anderson, Anderson & Cleal 2007 and some clade names from Pelletier 2012 and others. Puttick et al./Nishiyama et al are used for the basal clades.


title: Embryophyte

text: Bryophytes consist of all non-vascular land plants (embryophytes without vascular tissue). All are relatively small and are usually confined to environments that are humid or at least seasonally moist. They are limited by their reliance on water needed to disperse their gametes, although only a few bryophytes are truly aquatic. Most species are tropical, but there are many arctic species as well. They may locally dominate the ground cover in tundra and Arctic–alpine habitats or the epiphyte flora in rain forest habitats.


title: Embryophyte

text: The three living divisions are the mosses (Bryophyta), hornworts (Anthocerotophyta), and liverworts (Marchantiophyta). Originally, these three groups were included together as classes within the single division Bryophyta. They have usually been placed separately into three divisions under the assumption that the bryophytes are a paraphyletic (more than one lineage) group, but newer research supports the monophyletic (having a common ancestor) model. The three bryophyte groups form an evolutionary grade of those land plants that are not vascular. Some closely related green algae are also non-vascular, but are not considered "land plants".


title: Embryophyte

text: Regardless of their evolutionary origins, the bryophytes are usually studied together because of their many biological similarities as non-vascular land plants. All three bryophyte groups share a haploid-dominant (gametophyte) life cycle and unbranched sporophytes (the plant's diploid structure). These are traits that appear to be plesiotypic within the land plants, and thus were common to all early diverging lineages of plants on the land. The fact that the bryophytes have a life cycle in common may thus be an artefact of being the oldest extant lineages of land plant, and not the result of close shared ancestry. (See the phylogeny above.)


title: Embryophyte

text: The bryophyte life-cycle is strongly dominated by the haploid gametophyte generation. The sporophyte remains small and dependent on the parent gametophyte for its entire brief life. All other living groups of land plants have a life cycle dominated by the diploid sporophyte generation. It is in the diploid sporophyte that vascular tissue develops. Although some mosses have quite complex water-conducting vessels, bryophytes lack true vascular tissue.


title: Embryophyte

text: Like the vascular plants, bryophytes do have differentiated stems, and although these are most often no more than a few centimeters tall, they do provide mechanical support. Most bryophytes also have leaves, although these typically are one cell thick and lack veins. Unlike the vascular plants, bryophytes lack true roots or any deep anchoring structures. Some species do grow a filamentous network of horizontal stems, but these have a primary function of mechanical attachment rather than extraction of soil nutrients (Palaeos 2008).


title: Embryophyte

text: During the Silurian and Devonian periods (around ), plants evolved which possessed true vascular tissue, including cells with walls strengthened by lignin (tracheids). Some extinct early plants appear to be between the grade of organization of bryophytes and that of true vascular plants (eutracheophytes). Genera such as "Horneophyton" have water-conducting tissue more like that of mosses, but a different life-cycle in which the sporophyte is more developed than the gametophyte. Genera such as "Rhynia" have a similar life-cycle but have simple tracheids and so are a kind of vascular plant. It was assumed that the gametophyte dominant phase seen in bryophytes used to be the ancestral condition in terrestrial plants, and that the sporophyte dominant stage in vascular plants was a derived trait. However, research points out the possibility that both the gametophyte and sporophyte stage were equally independent from each other, and that the mosses and vascular plants in that case are both derived, and has evolved in the opposite direction from the other.


title: Embryophyte

text: During the Devonian period, vascular plants diversified and spread to many different land environments. In addition to vascular tissues which transport water throughout the body, tracheophytes have an outer layer or cuticle that resists drying out. The sporophyte is the dominant generation, and in modern species develops leaves, stems and roots, while the gametophyte remains very small.


title: Embryophyte

text: All the vascular plants which disperse through spores were once thought to be related (and were often grouped as 'ferns and allies'). However, recent research suggests that leaves evolved quite separately in two different lineages. The lycophytes or lycopodiophytes – modern clubmosses, spikemosses and quillworts – make up less than 1% of living vascular plants. They have small leaves, often called 'microphylls' or 'lycophylls', which are borne all along the stems in the clubmosses and spikemosses, and which effectively grow from the base, via an intercalary meristem. It is believed that microphylls evolved from outgrowths on stems, such as spines, which later acquired veins (vascular traces).


title: Embryophyte

text: Although the living lycophytes are all relatively small and inconspicuous plants, more common in the moist tropics than in temperate regions, during the Carboniferous period tree-like lycophytes (such as "Lepidodendron") formed huge forests that dominated the landscape.


title: Embryophyte

text: The euphyllophytes, making up more than 99% of living vascular plant species, have large 'true' leaves (megaphylls), which effectively grow from the sides or the apex, via marginal or apical meristems. One theory is that megaphylls developed from three-dimensional branching systems by first " – flattening to produce a two dimensional branched structure – and then 'webbing' – tissue growing out between the flattened branches. Others have questioned whether megaphylls developed in the same way in different groups.


title: Embryophyte

text: Euphyllophytes are divided into two lineages: the ferns and horsetails (monilophytes) and the seed plants (spermatophytes). Like all the preceding groups, the monilophytes continue to use spores as their main method of dispersal. Traditionally, whisk ferns and horsetails were treated as distinct from 'true' ferns. Recent research suggests that they all belong together, although there are differences of opinion on the exact classification to be used. Living whisk ferns and horsetails do not have the large leaves (megaphylls) which would be expected of euphyllophytes. However, this has probably resulted from reduction, as evidenced by early fossil horsetails, in which the leaves are broad with branching veins.


title: Embryophyte

text: Ferns are a large and diverse group, with some 12,000 species. A stereotypical fern has broad, much divided leaves, which grow by unrolling.


title: Embryophyte

text: Seed plants, which first appeared in the fossil record towards the end of the Paleozoic era, reproduce using desiccation-resistant capsules called seeds. Starting from a plant which disperses by spores, highly complex changes are needed to produce seeds. The sporophyte has two kinds of spore-forming organs (sporangia). One kind, the megasporangium, produces only a single large spore (a megaspore). This sporangium is surrounded by one or more sheathing layers (integuments) which form the seed coat. Within the seed coat, the megaspore develops into a tiny gametophyte, which in turn produces one or more egg cells. Before fertilization, the sporangium and its contents plus its coat is called an 'ovule'; after fertilization a 'seed'. In parallel to these developments, the other kind of sporangium, the microsporangium, produces microspores. A tiny gametophyte develops inside the wall of a microspore, producing a pollen grain. Pollen grains can be physically transferred between plants by the wind or animals, most commonly insects. Pollen grains can also transfer to an ovule of the same plant, either with the same flower or between two flowers of the same plant (self-fertilization). When a pollen grain reaches an ovule, it enters via a microscopic gap in the coat (the micropyle). The tiny gametophyte inside the pollen grain then produces sperm cells which move to the egg cell and fertilize it.