Collaborations for Peace symposium
Posted in Collaborations for Peace, Events
The Symposium
Throughout the world civil society is increasingly making its voice heard. Greenpeace, Amnesty International, Medicenes Sans Frontier and many other organisations are lobbying and calling for governments to account, making leaders answerable through mobilising worldwide support.
The results are that those in power can no longer dismiss NGOs as fringe groups or radicals fuelled by passion. Today they have credibility and have vital roles in exposing agendas that are driven by power and economics.
South Africa, thanks to its struggle heritage, has always had a robust civil society and now it must again step up to speak on behalf of those that the politicians can’t or don’t want to hear. Dr Mamphela Ramphele hopes for a civil society that would “become the key to fixing social problems that would become deadly if unaddressed”.
The Symposium planned at the occasion of the 1st visit of the Global Stewardship Group to South Africa aims to:
1) Provide a forum for the sharing of expertise by the international guests and those in SA who are in the business of building peace
2) Find ways in which to pool collective resources that will ensure effectiveness in addressing issues that undermine global peace and stability
3) Counter the intransigence that often results when organisations work in competition and in isolation
4) Contribute to a vibrant and constructive public discourse that begins to close the gap between the policy makers ad civil society.
The Global Stewardship Group (GSG) is a team of global leaders who are lending their knowledge, experience and time to strengthen efforts to end mass atrocities across the world. The GSG provides overall guidance and serves as a cornerstone of leadership for innovation, learning and cross sector engagement to address these pressing issues. Individual members of the GSG are: 1) diverse, 2) strategically connected, 3) cross-sector, 4) multi-level, and 5) dedicated to building a more effective global system to end mass violence and atrocities.
The Format
The Key Note speaker, Ms Yasmin Sooka, Executive Director of the Foundation for Human Rights will address the theme and frame the discussion.
The Respondent, Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza, Former TRC Commissioner, will reflect on the address and add institutional reflections to the debate.
Four Panellists from the Global Stewardship group will form part of the panel with responsibilities to pose two questions to the key note speaker and the respondent. They will also speak on their own experiences and views on collaborating. They are:
Mr Youk Chang (Director, Documentation Centre of Cambodia)
Ms Gemma Mortensen (Executive Director, Crisis Action, UK)
HE István Lakatos (Ambassador at Large for Human Rights—Hungarian Foreign Ministry, Hungary)
Mr Randy Newcomb (CEO, Humanity United, USA)
The Audience will have an opportunity to comment and pose questions to the speakers.
Details on the speakers
Panellist
Youk Chhang, Director – Documentation Center of Cambodia
He is a survivor of the Killing Fields and received the Truman-Reagan Freedom Award from the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in 2000. He was also named one of Time magazine’s “60 Asian Heroes” in 2006 and one of the “Time 100” most influential people in the world in 2007 for his stand against impunity in Cambodia and elsewhere.
Gemma Mortensen, Executive Director – Crisis Action, UK
Gemma has spent the past two and a half years with Crisis Action, previously as UK Director. She played an integral role in developing the organisation from a two-person office in London into one with international reach at the forefront of global advocacy. She has led Crisis Action’s international campaigns on Iran, Burma and Gaza. Gemma worked previously in human rights posts for the ICC, for the UK Mission to the United Nations in New York (UKMIS) and for the European Commission in Geneva and Sudan. She has significant media experience, in print, radio and TV, and has presented and produced radio documentaries for the BBC in Sudan, Russia and Pakistan.
Randy Newcomb, CEO – Humanity United, USA
Randy Newcomb is President and CEO of Humanity United. Prior to Humanity United, Randy served in senior management at Omidyar Network and the Omidyar Foundation. Randy also served 14 years as CEO of Golden Gate Community Inc. (GGCI), a community-based social enterprise located in San Francisco. Randy was an inaugural fellow of the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He holds a doctoral degree from the University of San Francisco and master’s degrees in cross-cultural studies and development economics from the University of Bath, England.
István Lakatos, Ambassador at Large for Human Rights – Hungarian Foreign Ministry
Key Speaker
Yasmin Sooka, Director of the Foundation for Human Rights since in 2001. She practised as a human rights lawyer during the apartheid era. In 1995, she was appointed as a Commissioner on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and was responsible for the final report. From 1998-2001, she was also an acting Judge of the Witwatersrand High Court. She is widely regarded as an expert on transitional justice and has been a consultant to a number of governments, commissions and civil society organisations. She was appointed by the United Nations to the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Other attending delegates:
Catherine Woollard, Director – European Peace building Liaison Office, UK
Buck Child, Steward – Action Learning and Community Development – iScale, USA
Debi Kellerer, Community Outreach Manager – Humanity United, USA
Ed Marcum, Director of Investments – Humanity United, USA
Greg Stanton, President – International Association of Genocide Scholars and Professor in Genocide Studies
Horacio Trujillo, Director of Research – Humanity United
James Smith, CEO and Founder – Aegis Trust
Jendayi Frazer, Distinguished Public Service Professor – Carnegie Mellon University and Former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
Meredith Blair, Research Officer – Humanity United
Sanjeev Khagram, Lead Steward – iScale and Wyss Scholar at the Harvard Business School
Mike Boyer, Director of Communications – Humanity United
Mike Pryce, CEO – COA Consulting and former Director of the Mass Atrocities Response Operations (MARO) Project and Professor of Conflict Resolution at the Peacekeeping Stabilization Operations Institute (PKSOI)
Paul Mikov, UN Representative – World Vision, Bulgaria
Peter Chun, Corporate Council – Humanity United
Randy Kemp, Steward – Action Learning and Community Development – iScale
Melissa Powell, Head, Strategy and Partnerships – UN Global Compact Office
Event details
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Time: 18H00 for 18H30 – 20H30
Venue: Vineyard Hotel, Newlands
Entry is free and all are welcome. Basement parking is available. Entertainment on arrival and refreshments will be served prior to the event.
