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SUMMARY:Conflict and peace in 2019 - Sir Stephen O'Brien\; Hamish de Brett
 on Gordon\; Dr Devon Curtis
DTSTART:20190123T170000Z
DTEND:20190123T190000Z
UID:TALK118843@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Adam Coutts
DESCRIPTION:PUBLIC LECTURE AND OPEN TO ALL\n\nThis is the launch event in 
 the Cambridge Initiative for Making and Sustaining Peace Lent term speaker
  series. The speaker series examines the major challenges and possible pol
 icy options for humanitarian intervention and conflict prevention. In this
  first event two leading practitioners – Sir Stephen O'Brien and Hamish 
 de Bretton Gordon will explore the ongoing conflicts and protracted humani
 tarian crises in Syria\, Yemen\, Iraq\, Sudan among others and peace build
 ing efforts across the Globe. Various academic commentators say the World 
 has never been more peaceful. However\, a glance at any newspaper\, TV sta
 tion or United Nations report would suggest otherwise. Millions of civilia
 ns have been killed or displaced from their homes by conflicts and forced 
 into poverty and refugee status.\n\nCan we identify conflicts before they 
 occur? What are the key drivers of conflict? Are our current international
  institutions and International Humanitarian Law out-of-date and how can m
 ulti-lateral humanitarian intervention be improved? There are new actors o
 n the international humanitarian and development arena such as the United 
 Arab Emirates\, Saudi Arabia\, Russia and China. How can European / US lea
 ders work with these new actors to bring about sustainable peace and effec
 tive development. These are some of the issues that will be discussed by t
 hese leading decisions makers and practitioners.\n\nThe event is chaired b
 y Dr Devon Curtis – a leading academic in peace\, security and developme
 nt studies at the University of Cambridge.\n\nThe Cambridge Initiative for
  Making and Sustaining Peace is a multi-disciplinary network of Cambridge 
 academics who support international peace-making efforts. Current initiati
 ves relate to peace negotiations\, education initiatives\, inter-faith dia
 logue\, post-conflict stabilisation\, and the politics and psychology of c
 onflict. \n\nDue to demand please register at: https://www.eventbrite.co.u
 k/e/conflict-and-peace-building-where-are-we-now-tickets-55106171041\n\nTh
 e Rt. Hon. Sir Stephen O’Brien KBE is a British businessman\, politician
 \, diplomat\, industrialist and lawyer who completed his term as United Na
 tions Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relie
 f Coordinator in late 2017\, and is currently non-executive director and V
 ice-Chairman of Savannah Petroleum PLC and an international business consu
 ltant. Born in Tanzania\, Sir Stephen was educated in Kenya and the UK\, w
 here he attended Emmanuel College\, Cambridge University. He was elected t
 o Parliament as a Conservative member in 1999\, and became Parliamentary U
 nder-Secretary of State for International Development in 2010. In 2012\, h
 e was appointed the Prime Minister’s Envoy and UK Special Representative
  to the Sahel\, working for peace in the region. Throughout this time\, Si
 r Stephen has been a leading advocate for global health. In 2004 he founde
 d\, and then served as first chairman\, of the All-Party Parliamentary Gro
 up on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases. He has also been Co-founder
 /Chairman of the Malaria Consortium\, Vice-President/Director of the Liver
 pool School of Tropical Medicine\, and is Chair of the Innovative Vector C
 ontrol Consortium\, and Global Advocate for the UN/WHO’s inter-agency Ro
 ll Back Malaria Partnership. He was appointed to Her Majesty Queen Elizabe
 th II’s Privy Council in 2013. In 2015\, Sir Stephen was appointed UN Un
 der-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordi
 nator\, leading the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (O
 CHA). In this role\, he argued powerfully for compliance and accountabilit
 y under international humanitarian law\, unimpeded access to people in nee
 d and the necessary US$23 billion funds\, under the transformative Agenda 
 for Humanity developed under his leadership. His responsibilities included
  oversight of all UN humanitarian operations globally\, and leadership of 
 coordination mechanisms between UN agencies and other partners. In recogni
 tion of his achievements in humanitarian and development work\, Sir Stephe
 n was awarded a Knighthood (KBE) in June 2017. \nHamish de Bretton-Gordon 
 OBE \nDirector CBRN\, Avon Protection\, Chemical Biological Radiological &
  Nuclear (CBRN) Counter Terrorist Expert \nHamish de Bretton-Gordon is Dir
 ector CBRN at Avon Protection\, the global market leader in respiratory pr
 otection system technology specializing primarily in Military and Law Enfo
 rcement. He is also a director of the NGO ‘Doctors Under Fire’ and an 
 advisor to the Syrian Medical charity UOSSM.  Hamish is a commissioned res
 erve officer in the Army’s Staff Corp as senior advisor & mentor to the 
 MOD on CBRN.\n\nHamish served 23 years in the British Army including servi
 ce as Commanding Officer of the UK CBRN Regiment and NATO's Rapid Reaction
  CBRN Battalion. His operational deployments included the 1st Gulf War\, C
 yprus\, Bosnia\, Kosovo\, Iraq (multiple tours) and Afghanistan (2 tours) 
 and has been in Syria & Iraq frequently in the last 4 years. This consider
 able experience in the field places Hamish as one of the world’s leading
  and most current experts in chemical and biological counter terrorism and
  warfare\, and in 2005 he was appointed an OBE for his exceptional perform
 ance. \n\nHamish joined Avon in 2014 from SecureBio Ltd which he founded 6
  years ago. He has worked with the Kurdistan Regional Government in Northe
 rn Iraq to decontaminate Halabja\, and has most recently provided guidance
  to civilians\, UK Government and the international community on safety ro
 und chemical weapon use in Syria and Iraq. Hamish has worked in Syria duri
 ng the current conflict advising UK based charity Syria Relief and UOSSM o
 n treating the victims of chemical weapons attacks and collation of eviden
 ce.  He advises the Peshmerga on CBRN matters and trained them on a number
  of occasions to counter the ISIL chemical attacks in N Iraq.  Hamish is p
 robably the leading expert on ISIL CBRN capabilities and plans and was ‘
 gassed’ by them near Mosul in April 2016.  He also travels regularly to 
 the US\, Iraq and other Middle and Far Eastern countries advising on CBRN 
 Counter Terrorism.\n\nToday Hamish gives advice to UK Government agencies 
 and is a senior MOD advisor on CBRN and Syria\, and is frequently seen on 
 global news channels providing expert commentary\, and writes in UK\, Midd
 le East and US news journals and newspapers.  \n\nChair: Dr Devon Curtis i
 s a University Senior Lecturer in the Department of Politics and Internati
 onal Studies at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Emmanuel Colle
 ge. Her main research interests and publications deal with power-sharing a
 nd governance arrangements following conflict\, UN peacebuilding\, non-sta
 te armed movements in Africa\, and critical perspectives on conflict\, pea
 cebuilding\, and development. Her field research concentrates on the Great
  Lakes region of Africa\, especially Burundi\, Rwanda and the Democratic R
 epublic of the Congo. Previously\, Devon worked for the Canadian governmen
 t and the United Nations Staff College\, and she has been a consultant for
  the UK Department for International Development\, the Overseas Developmen
 t Institute\, and a Visiting Senior Advisor to the International Peace Ins
 titute. She has had fellowships at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace
  Studies at Columbia University\, and at the Center for International Secu
 rity and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University. \n
LOCATION:Emmanuel College - Queens Building 
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