Human Rights and Humanitarianism: Contradictory or Co-dependent?

A Conference at Columbia Universitys School of International and Public Affairs, 420 West 118th Street, 15th floor, Wednesday, 30 October 2012, from 2 pm to 6 pm

Humanitarian action is notoriously unequal. In some crises aid is abundant, in others horrifically inadequate. What, then, should be the driving forces of humanitarian action? Compassion? Political calculations? Religious imperatives? And is it helpful to insist on neutrality, independence and impartiality as the sole paths to effective aid in the face of so much evidence to the contrary? Is there any common ground at all for the multitude of humanitarian actors, ranging from international organizations and the traditional Western NGOs to fundamentalist activists and commercial entrepreneurs?

This conference will invite reflections on the role that a human rights-based approach can play in creating a common set of humanitarian norms and values that bridge these divides. And if that makes sense, should some rights prevail, and others be placed on hold? The speakers at this conference will come from widely different backgrounds, and the positions they will take may not be harmonious, but the discussion is necessary the more so since the humanitarian community currently faces a rapidly changing environment, requiring a fundamental revision of old certainties.

2:00 - 2:15 Welcome and Introduction, Prof. Elazar Barkan, Director, Human Rights and Humanitarian Policy Concentration, SIPA

2:15 - 3:45 Panel I: Human rights in the humanitarian arena

The first panel will explore the experiences of three different organizations as they bring their own rights-based norms and values into their field work we will hear from a large, independent NGO with programs worldwide; a major Catholic relief organization; and a small Basque group working with the displaced in Colombia.

• Jason Cone, Director of Communications, Doctors without Borders USA
• Arancha Garcia del Soto, MUNDUBAT, a Basque NGO, Bilbao
• Father Richard Ryscavage, Center for Faith and Public Life, Fairfield University, former National Director of Jesuit Refugee Service USA

3:45 4:15 Coffee

4:15 5:45 Panel II: Towards common ground across wide disparities

The second panel will discuss whether a new normative framework for the entire humanitarian enterprise is called for, allowing more differentiation among actors, while finding common ground in defining "humanitarian". Are human rights, or some human rights, indeed the common denominator for the humanitarian enterprise? Speakers will come from UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Columbia University, and a prominent US-based NGO.

• Aurelien Buffler, Policy Development and Studies Branch, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
• Iain Levine, Deputy Executive Director, Program, Human Rights Watch
• Dirk Salomons, Co-Director, Human Rights and Humanitarian Policy Concentration

5:45 Reception

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