FRONTIERS OF HUMANITARIANISM: CONCEPTS AND CASES (this Thursday)

Hi all:

I received this email and cannot attend, but wanted to pass on the news. Looks interesting!

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The following day-long program is open to the public and is a joint collaboration of New York area schools, including NYU's Center for Global Affairs and the Wagner School for Public Service. Full partner information is included in the notice.

It takes place at Columbia University and registration is via email: td207@columbia.edu.

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FRONTIERS OF HUMANITARIANISM: CONCEPTS AND CASES

This conference examines the limits of humanitarian action, and in particular how political paralysis after conflict perpetuates human suffering. Many violent crises of the past have left a legacy of humanitarian needs that no longer make the headlines, and that defy a solution. Is humanitarianism no more than a fig leaf for political cowardice? Or has the time come for a political approach to humanitarian action, exploring new frontiers?

To register, please contact Tanya Domi by sending email to td207@columbia.edu .

Thursday, April 3, 2008
9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Dag Hammarskjöld Center, 15th Floor
Columbia University School of
International and Public Affairs
420 West 118th Street

Presented by
The Consortium on Security and Humanitarian Action

The Consortium is a joint endeavor of research centers at four New York area universities: the Humanitarian Affairs Program at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA); the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies at the Graduate Center of The City University of New York (CUNY); the Institute for International Humanitarian Affairs at Fordham University; and both the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and the Center for Global Affairs at the School of Continuing and Professional Studies at New York University.

To register, please contact Tanya Domi by sending email to td207@columbia.edu .

PROGRAM

9:00–9:15 a.m.
Continental breakfast

9:15–9:30 a.m.
Welcome
Dirk Salomons, Director, Humanitarian Affairs Program, SIPA

9:30–11:00 a.m.
Panel I: “Knowledge is Power: Social Science and Humanitarian Action”
(organized by the Ralph Bunche Institute, CUNY Graduate Center)
Chair:
Michael Barnett, Howard Stassen Chair of International Affairs at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs and Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota

Speakers:
Craig Calhoun, President of the Social Science Research Council and University Professor of Sociology at New York University
Peter J. Hoffman, Research Associate, Ralph Bunche Institute, and Adjunct Lecturer in Political Science at Hunter College
H. Roy Williams, Director of the Center on Humanitarian Cooperation, New York

11:00–11:15 a.m.
Coffee break

11:15–12:45 p.m.
Panel II: “Left Behind in the Caucasus” (organized by SIPA, Columbia University)
Chair:
Dirk Salomons, Director of the Humanitarian Affairs Program at SIPA, Columbia University, and Adjunct Professor of International Public Management at the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, New York University

Speakers:
Dr. Arif Yunusov, Chief, Department of Conflict and Migration Studies, Institute of Peace and Democracy, Baku, Azerbaijan
David L. Phillips, Visiting Scholar, Center for the Study of Human Rights, Columbia University
Jennifer Sime, Director for Business Development and former Country Director in Georgia, International Rescue Committee
Alex Cooley, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Barnard College

12:45–2:00 p.m.
Buffet Lunch

2:00–3:30 p.m.
Panel III: “Politicization of Humanitarian aid in Colombia” (organized by the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs, Fordham University)

Chair:
Arancha García del Soto, Senior Fellow, Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs, Fordham University

Speakers:
Ana Maria Gómez, Director, EQUITAS, Forensic Anthropology and Psychosocial Support, Colombia
Monsignor Héctor Fabio Henao, Director of the National Social Pastoral Secretariat of the Colombian Conference of Catholic Bishops
Renata Segura, Program Officer, Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum, Social Science Research Council, New York City

3:45–5:15 p.m.
Panel IV: “Lessons Learned About Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Iraq”
(organized by the Center for Global Affairs at the School of Continuing and Professional Studies, New York University)

Chair:
Michael Oppenheimer, Clinical Associate Professor, Center for Global Affairs, New York University

Speakers:
Major General William Nash, Adjunct Senior Fellow and Director, Military Fellows Program
Paul Hughes, Director of Iraq Programs, United States Institute of Peace
Thomas Hill, Peacebuilding Practitioner and Adjunct Professor, Center for Global Affairs, New York University

5:15 p.m.
Concluding remarks
John Coatsworth, Acting Dean, SIPA, Columbia University

Sponsors
The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
The Harriman Institute, Columbia University

To register, please contact Tanya Domi by sending email to td207@columbia.edu .