The UCLU Darfur Week will consist of many different events, bringing together a wide variety of UCL student societies and professional organisations. The event aims to provide a platform for leading practitioners, students and members of public to engage in a dicourse about the Darfur crisis.
Events
Talk and book signing - Daoud Hari: The Translator
Date: Monday, 30th November 2009
Time: 19:00 - 20:00
Location: Christopher Ingold Lecture Theatre, UCL Chemistry Building, 20 Gordon Street, WC1 6BT
Daoud Hari was born in the Darfur region of Sudan. After escaping an attack on his village in 2003, he entered the refugee camps in Chad and began serving as a translator for major news organisations including the New York Times, NBC and the BBC, as well as for the UN and other aid groups.
His 2008 book ‘The Translator’ tells his story. It demonstrates the horror of the situation from a first-hand perspective, yet maintains a poignant sense of hope and belief in the UN investigators, the humanitarian agencies providing aid and the reporters who tell the tale.
Daoud will be visiting us from his home in Baltimore to talk about his experiences and afterwards there will be an opportunity to buy his book and have it signed.
Panel Discussion - "Darfur: Perspectives on a Region in Crisis"
Date: Tuesday, 1st December 2009
Time: 19:00 - 20:30
Location: Christopher Ingold Auditorium, UCL Chemistry Department, 20 Gordon Street, WC1 6BT
Chaired by Lord David Alton, this event brings together an esteemed panel, with experience ranging from freelance journalism to direction of MSF. Each panelist will present their interpretation of events in Darfur since violence broke out in early 2003. Following this there will be discussion amongst the panel members and an opportunity for the audience to participate. The evening promises to be an insightful introduction to events in the Darfur region, as well as a forum for debate on the crisis.
Chair
Lord David Alton was an MP for 18 years before being made a member of the House of Lords in 1997. In addition to his work as an independent cross bench peer he has written numerous articles relating to human rights abuses in Burma, North Korea, Congo, and Sudan. He has also made speeches and written articles about a wide variety of issues including a 2004 report on events in Darfur.
Panelists
Marc DuBois is Executive Director of MSF-UK. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an independent humanitarian medical aid organisation committed to providing medical aid where it is most needed, regardless of race, religion, politics or gender and to raising awareness of the plight of these people.
Daoud Hari was born in the Darfur region of Sudan. After escaping an attack on his village in 2003, he entered the refugee camps in Chad and began serving as a translator for major news organizations including the New York Times, NBC and the BBC, as well as for the UN and other aid groups. The acclaimed book ‘The Translator’ tells his tale.
Julie Flint is an independent journalist and author. She has written articles published in The Independent, The Guardian, BBC News and The Observer. Most recently she co-authored, with Alex de Waal, the book ‘Darfur: A New History of a Long War’.
Michael O’Neill is the UK Special Representative in Sudan and Head of the Sudan unit for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
"Human Rights in Darfur: A failure of the international community?"
Thursday 3rd December
Time: 19.00
Venue: Gustave Tuck LT
Chaired by Dr Saladin Meckled-Garcia, Co-Director of the UCL Institute of Human Rights.
Chair
Dr. Meckled-Garcia is the founder of the Human Rights programme at the School of Public Policy, having designed and launched the MA in Human Rights in 2003. He is also co-founder and co-director of the new UCL Institute for Human Rights.
Currently a Lecturer in Human Rights and Political Theory, he has been a Rubin Senior Research Fellow in Human Rights, a Junior Research Fellow (Birmingham, Philosophy), A Special Fellow in Philosophy (UCL, Philosophy).
Panellists
Fabricio Guariglia - Senior Appeals Counsel, Office of the Prosecutor, ICC
Dr. Guariglia has since April 2004 been the Senior Appeals Counsel and Head of the Appeals Section in the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Dr. Guariglia has lectured and published published extensively in the areas of international criminal law, comparative criminal law and human rights law. Between 2003 and early 2004 Mr. Guariglia was a visiting fellow in London School of Economics, where he taught International Criminal Law and Public Internal Law. He has been consultant or advisor on an ad hoc basis of the following organizations: Amnesty International, International Center for Transitional Justice, and Open Society Justice Initiative.
Richard Hermer QC - Leader of the International Law Group at Doughty Street Chambers
Richard practices in the fields of domestic and international human rights law. He was called to the Bar in 1993 and took silk in 2009. The current edition of Chamber & Partners recommends him as a leading practitioner in 6 separate categories including human rights, public international law, actions against the police and personal injury. In 2000 Richard was appointed the first Human Rights Practitioner in Residence at Columbia University, New York where his specialist area of research focused on international human rights and corporate responsibility.
Louise Roland-Gosselin is on the board of directors of Waging Peace (WP), a non-governmental organisation that campaigns against genocide and systematic human rights abuses, with a particular focus on Sudan, Chad and the Central African Republic. They lobby the British government to use its influence to ensure the protection of civilians in countries where their rights are ignored or their lives and homes in danger due to repressive rulers and regimes. Louise completed a masters in Human Rights at the London School of Economics. She has carried out research for Waging Peace in Chad, Rwanda, northern Uganda and Central African Republic. As Director, Louise lends her expertise on Darfur in particular to WP campaigning.
This esteemed panel promises to deliver an interesting and informative presentation of their experience of working for the protection of human rights in regions of conflict. With a view to evaluating the response of global organisations such as the International Criminal Court, the United Nations and national governments, has international law failed the people of Darfur?
Spotlight on Darfur: The Role of Media in Conflict
Date: Friday, 4th December 2009
Time: 19:00 - 21:00
Location: Cruciform Lecture Theatre 1, Cruciform Building, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT
The media has become one of the most powerful and influential forces of our time. It plays an essential role in the recognition and presentation of conflicts to the western world and subsequently influences our level of response. However, Darfur is no longer 'fashionable' and recently the media has been accused of simplifying the conflict, over eagerly using terms such as 'genocide' and antagonising aid agencies. Is the media's influence doing more harm than good?
Chaired by Dr Christoffer van Tulleken
Dr Tulleken is an academic registrar in Tropical Medicine at UCH and a lecturer in Conflict, Migration and Human Rights on the International Health BSc at UCL. He has worked with remote conflict affected populations around the world both as a doctor and filming documentaries. He is a Patron of the aid agency, Merlin, for whom he has worked in
Central African Republic and Burma.
Panelists
Jonathan Steele writes on International Affairs for the Guardian. He has been the paper's chief foreign correspondent covering conflict and wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Balkans, Central America, and East and Southern Africa. He has had numerous assignments in Sudan and Darfur. The author of books on Russia, Germany, Africa, and Iraq, Steele has won all the major British journalism prizes and has twice been named as International Reporter of the Year in the British press awards.
Mary Harper has reported on Africa for the past fifteen years, for the BBC, The Economist and The Washington Post. Her time at the BBC was spent in the African service, where she reported from many countries in Africa and covered the conflicts in southern Sudan, Somalia, Congo (DRC), Liberia, Sierra Leone and Algeria. She has interviewed many heads of state, including President Mobutu of Zaire. Mary Harper is now Africa Editor for the BBC World Service.
Stephen Chan is Professor of International Relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), specialising in politics of southern Africa, normative values and non-Western methodologies. He has published 27 books and over 300 articles and reviews on international relations and broadcasts frequently on the BBC, Sky, CNN, Al-Jazeera and many other world media outlets. In 2007 he was invited to Beijing to advise on the problems in Darfur.
Polly Markandya is head of communications at MSF-UK, she has worked in the department for over 10 years and plays an essential role in ensuring disasters reach the western worlds attention. MSF is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid to people in over 70 countries.