Join fellow Alumni for a reception and presentation "Humanitarian Assistance and the Protection of Persons in War and Disaster" with Dr. Michael VanRooyen and Dr. Eduardo Valencia-Ospina
Tuesday, November 12, 2013 6:00 -8:30 PM Cocktail ReceptionPresentation: "Humanitarian Futures: Frontiers in Humanitarian Assistance in War and Disaster"followed by a light dinner buffet NautaDutilh (Strawinskylaan 1999, 1077 XV Amsterdam) TO RSVP:Please register at harvardnlevents@gmail.com with your name, Alumni Club, and name(s) of your guest(s).
Humanitarian emergencies due conflict and disaster create a cycle of vulnerability that lead to social instability and chronic under-development. Humanitarian aid seeks to stabilize populations affected by crisis and promote recovery, yet the provision of aid is challenged by insecure political environments and hampered by a lack of coordination and leadership. Dr. VanRooyen will discuss the future drivers of humanitarian assistance and the challenges and opportunities for a new era in effective aid and development.
Michael VanRooyen, MD, MPH is a Professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, where he teaches courses on humanitarian operations in war and disaster.
He is also the Director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) at Harvard University and the Vice Chairman of Emergency Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. VanRooyen has worked as an emergency physician with numerous relief organizations in over thirty countries affected by war and disaster, including Somalia, Bosnia, Rwanda, Iraq, North Korea, Darfur-Sudan, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He has worked in the field as a relief expert with several non-governmental organizations, including CARE, Save the Children, Oxfam, and Physicians for Human Rights. He has been a policy advisor to the WHO and UN OCHA. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the International Rescue Committee. Domestically, Dr. VanRooyen worked with the American Red Cross at the site of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11th, 2001. He also helped to coordinate the American Red Cross public health response to Hurricane Katrina, and oversaw the development of a 400 bed surgical field hospital in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. He worked as a physician with the US Secret Service, NASA and with the US Public Health Service with the Navajo and Apache tribes in Arizona and New Mexico.
Eduardo Valencia-Ospina (HLS LLM 1963 and Special Graduate Student 1964), retired from the United Nations with the rank of Assistant Secretary-General after 36 years in the service of the Legal and Judicial activities of the Organization. He was Senior Legal Officer in the Office of Legal Affairs of the Secretariat and Registrar of the International Court of Justice. At present he is an elected member of the ILC and its Special Rapporteur on the topic. He will speak on 'The International Law Commission and the Protection of Persons in the event of Disasters".
The International Law Commission (ILC) is the permanent subsidiary organ of the UN General Assembly established to implement the Assembly's Charter task to progressively develop and codify international law. The ILC is nearing completion of a set of draft articles on the Protection of Persons in the event of Disasters. The draft articles cover disasters, whether natural or human-made, occurring in time of Peace. They do not apply to armed conflict, to which the rules of international humanitarian law are applicable. They focus on Response (immediate relief and initial recovery) and Prevention ( disaster risk reduction) and do not extend to development at the post disaster phase. They are intended to form the basis of an international convention on the topic.
Directions: http://nautadutilh.com/routedescription.xhtml?id=2