Events
Western militaries claim that they will reshape themselves into the ultimate climate ally, but what does this mean in practice? This panel explores what researchers, policymakers, and activists are doing locally, regionally, and globally to address the role of militarization in the climate crisis.
Exploring four fascinating aspects of the arms trade: from greenwashing and corruption, to the over-reliance on weapons as security and the military industry’s hold over government.
As Egyptians head to the polls for their presidential election in December, this panel discusses: What is the wider context of harm caused by military partnerships with Egypt and other countries in the region? What does military corruption mean to Egyptian activists and how can we build better relationships based on solidarity with the Egyptian people?
Given that the arms trade is a high-risk sector for corruption, for reasons such as secrecy, its highly technical nature and political significance, EU anti-corruption efforts must pay special attention to spending on arms. This workshop highlights key red flags and provides a contextual analysis of the arms trade to inform parliamentarians about corruption risks in the sector.
According to the Human Rights Watch, Israeli forces are deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food, and fuel, and using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in Gaza which is a war crime according to international law. Join the Palestine Program for Health and Human Rights for a conversation about the starvation of civilians in the Gaza Strip. This webinar is co-sponsored by the Religion, Conflict, and Peace Initiative at the Harvard Divinity School, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, and the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.
Speakers:
Alex de Waal, an expert on mass starvation and the Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation
Michael Fakhri, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food and professor at the University of Oregon School of Law
Georgios Petropoulos, the head of the Gaza United Nations sub-office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Moderated by FXB’s Director of Research, Professor Jacqueline Bhabha, JD, MSc.
The Kent Global Leadership Program in Conflict Resolution at Columbia SIPA, in conjunction with SIPA’s Institute of Global Politics, will host a panel discussion with leading experts on issues facing the countries of the Horn of Africa. Event video available here.
Speakers:
- Alex deWaal, Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation and Research Professor, Tufts University
- Mulugeta Gebrehiwot, World Peace Foundation, Tufts University
- Meskerem Geset, human rights lawyer
- Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Director of SIPA’s Kent Global Leadership Program on Conflict Resolution; former UN Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping
- Haile Menkerios, Eritrean and UN diplomat
- Hillary Rodham Clinton, Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University; 67th Secretary of State and former Senator from New York; IGP Faculty Advisory Board Chair (moderator)
Hosted by International Food Policy Research Institute
This IFPRI policy seminar will reflect on urgent data, analytical, and policy needs to mitigate food insecurity and revitalize food systems in Sudan. Several interrelated issues will be addressed, including options for policy engagement in the absence of a legitimate government, the viability of balancing immediate humanitarian needs with longer-term investments in agricultural development, and possible post-conflict scenarios that might affect priority-setting for the food system. The event will bring together researchers from IFPRI’s Sudan country program, conflict analysts, humanitarian donors, and country experts in a hybrid format.
Welcome Remarks
- Danielle Resnick, Senior Research Fellow, Development Strategies and Governance Unit (DSG), IFPRI
Overview Remarks from USAID
- Tyler Beckelman, Deputy Assistant Administrator, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Africa Bureau
Sudan’s Conflict and Complex Emergencies
- Alex de Waal, Professor and Executive Director, World Peace Foundation, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University
Food Security Before and During the War: Evidence from National Rural Household Survey
- Khalid Siddig, Senior Research Fellow, Development Strategies and Governance (DSG) Unit and Sudan Country Strategy Support Program Leader, IFPRI
Shocks, Coping, and Livelihood Strategies due to the War
- Oliver Kiptoo Kirui, Research Fellow, Development Strategies and Governance (DSG) Unit, Sudan Country Strategy Support Program, IFPRI
Economic Costs of the War and Recovery Options
- Karl Pauw, Senior Research Fellow, Foresight, Policy, and Modeling (FPM) Unit, IFPRI
Local and External Competencies for Peacebuilding in Sudan
- Ibrahim Elbadawi, Managing Director of the Economic Research Forum and former Sudan Minister of Finance
Closing Remarks
- Johan Swinnen, Managing Director, Systems Transformation, CGIAR; Director General, IFPRI
Moderator
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- Danielle Resnick, Senior Research Fellow, Development Strategies and Governance Unit (DSG), IFPRI
Co-sponsored by: The TUSM Global Health Faculty Council, the Tufts Center for Global Public Health, and the Office for Institutional Inclusive Excellence at Tufts University.
Over the last six months, the war in the Gaza Strip has had dire public health consequences for its 2.2 million residents. The goal of this seminar is to communicate data and evidence regarding this ongoing and worsening public health crisis. Speakers will discuss recent spatial analyses of damage to civilian infrastructure that is critical for sustaining health (including water and medical facilities), challenges related to food insecurity and imminent famine, structural barriers to healthcare delivery before the current conflict, and the role of medical and public health specialists in times of conflict.
Speakers:
- Yara Asi, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Global Health Management and Informatics, University of Central Florida
- Alex de Waal, DPhil, Executive Director, World Peace Foundation, Tufts University, Research Professor, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
- Karameh Hawash-Kummerle, MD, Assistant Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Attending Physician, Department of Neurology, Boston Children’s Hospital
This annual conference showcases medical research from fragile and conflict-affected settings. The event brings together researchers, innovators, and advocates in humanitarian global health for a day of presentations and debates.
This year, the Keynote Speech ‘Famine: what’s in a name?’ will be delivered by Alex de Waal, Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation, Tufts University.
A panel discussion entitled ‘Mortality estimates: more than just counting deaths?’ will be led by Leslie Roberts, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
Importantly, this year, it is 40 years since the famine in Ethiopia, 30 years since the genocide in Rwanda, and 10 years since the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, all of which were critical events that shaped MSF’s operations.
Access the full agenda that includes the late-breaking abstract Crisis in Gaza: scenario-based health impact projections (LSHTM).
Join us for a conversation with leaders in peacebuilding and restorative justice, with reflections on how listening and dialogue inform their work and approach. Marc Gwamaka leads peace and values education programs in Rwanda, aiming to build sustainable peace after conflict and genocide. Armand Coleman and Supreme Hassan engage restorative justice principles and practices to promote healing and transformation among incarcerated individuals and impacted communities. This roundtable discussion will explore the value and power of restorative justice.
Speakers:
Marc Gwamaka, Engagement and Outreach Coordinator, Aegis Trust and Kigali Genocide Memorial, Rwanda
Armand Coleman, Founder, Transformational Prison Project, US
Supreme Hassan, Founder, Responsible Party Consulting, US
Facilitated by
Bridget Conley, Research Director, World Peace Foundation
Jonathan Tirrell, Director, Generous Listening and Dialogue Center
Hosted by
Generous Listening and Dialogue Center, Tisch College of Civic Life, Tufts University
The World Peace Foundation at The Fletcher School, Tufts University
CAAT and World Peace Foundation launch a new report on the influence of the UK arms industry on government on Wednesday 18th September, 19:00-20:30 | 2:00pm EST, with a hybrid panel discussion.
“From revolving door to open-plan office: the ever-closer union between the UK government and the arms industry” details the various channels of influence the arms industry is able to bring to bear on government, such as the revolving door, lobbying meetings with ministers and senior officials, and dedicated government-industry forums, and details how, over the past few decades, the arms industry has been drawn into such a close relationship with government as to blur or even erase the boundaries between the two. This ensures top arms companies a guaranteed stream of lucrative MOD contracts, despite persistent failures in delivery, and a highly permissive arms export regime, allowing sales to continue to Saudi Arabia and Israel in spite of the horrific human cost.
Speakers:
- Dr. Sam Perlo-Freeman, Research Coordinator, Campaign Against Arms Trade (report author)
- Andrew Feinstein, Executive Director, Shadow World Investigations
- Ara Marcen Naval, Head of Advocacy, Transparency International Defence & Security
- Dan Sabbagh, Defence & Security Editor, The Guardian
- B Arneson, Director, World Peace Foundation’s Arms Trade Programme (Moderator)
The Huxley Memorial Lecture will be given by Professor Alex de Waal, The Fletcher School, Tufts University.
Anthropology and the Humanitarian Encounter: Famine, Societal Trauma and the Academy
Famines have returned, most prominently in Sudan and Gaza. Mass starvation challenges political leaders, the public and the academy. Drawing on these and other cases, this lecture places social anthropologists in the centre of the story of how we have come to understand humanitarian emergency, famine and mass starvation. Three fields of study frame how we represent and respond to famine, each having distinct methods and frameworks, but each owing much to anthropology. One is positivist metrics for measuring food security, malnutrition and mortality, exemplified by the United Nations-accredited Integrated food security Phase Classification initiative, which is today’s authoritative mechanism for determining ‘famine.’ Second is legal, political and economic analysis of policies, especially criminal acts, that cause mass starvation. Third is the ethnography of famine as experienced, also drawing upon history, memory studies and literature. Social anthropology is uniquely positioned to synthesize these approaches, leading to insights into famine as societal trauma, with implications for the academy, for policy, and listening to the voices of the hungry.
Event hosted by the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy
It’s common for those responsible for famines to deny them, while they are raging and afterwards. This was the case in colonial India, and post-colonial China, Ethiopia, Sudan and Yemen. At the time of the Holodomor, Josef Stalin infamously said, ‘if one man dies of hunger, it is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic.’ Denialism takes several forms, including outright factual denial, explaining the calamity as something else, and giving a different meaning to starvation in order to justify inflicting it. Today, with internationally validated metrics for measuring food insecurity and determining ‘famine’, such as the United Nations-accredited Integrated food security Phase Classification (IPC), denialists have adopted new methods for dealing with inconvenient statistics. The deepest denial is that famines are man-made, profound societal traumas.
Speaker: Alex de Waal, Executive Director, World Peace Foundation at the Fletcher School, Tufts University
Columbia University Program on Forced Migration and Health (PFMH) Talk and Webinar:
In-Person for Columbia University affiliates only
Webinar open to the public
- Speaker: Alex de Waal is executive director of the World Peace Foundation and Research Professor at the Fletcher School, Tufts University. Professor de Waal will examine the key metrics for different food crises and famines and explore the patterns of causation.
Professor de Waal is an authority on famine and has worked on the Horn of Africa since the 1980s as a researcher and practitioner. He was listed among Foreign Policy’s 100 most influential international intellectuals in 2008 and Atlantic’s 29 ‘brave thinkers’ in 2009 and is the winner of the Huxley Award of the Royal Anthropological Institute in 2024. De Waal’s recent books include: Mass Starvation: The history and future of famine (2018), and New Pandemics, Old Politics: 200 years of the war on disease and its alternatives (2021).
- Moderator: Rachel T. Moresky, MD, MPH, Acting Director, Program on Forced Migration and Health, Director, sidHARTe – Strengthening Emergency Systems Program and Columbia University Global Emergency Medicine Fellowship, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health & Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
