Adama Dieng & Prof Andrew Thompson in Conversation: 'The United Nations and the prevention of mass atrocities in the 21st Century: some challenges and opportunities'

Past Event

Date
 09 October 2023, 5:00pm - 6:15pm

Location
 Oxford Martin School & Online
34 Broad Street (corner of Holywell and Catte Streets), Oxford, OX1 3BD

Event Recording:

Adama Dieng, former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, July 2012 to July 2020, will discuss the UN's role in the global collective responsibility to prevent genocide and other mass atrocities.

In conversation with Professor Andrew Thompson, he will consider how the UN can learn from the past and take effective action to prevent mass violence set against a background of increasing commission of atrocity crimes globally, a rise in hate speech, identity-based discrimination and intolerance. He will also explore the UN's continued crucial role in de-escalating conflicts and the challenges that are preventing humanity from achieving its goal of a world without genocide and other atrocity crimes.

UN7292019 United Nations Adama Dieng

Adama Dieng
Former UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide

Adama Dieng is a Senegalese jurist and former United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide (2012-2020). He also served as Registrar of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (2001 to 2012).

Before joining the United Nations, Mr Dieng was for ten years the Secretary General of the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists (1990-2000). He was appointed as the UN Independent Expert for Haiti (1995-2000) and served in 1993 as Envoy of the UN Secretary General to Malawi. He was the driving force behind the establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and produced also the draft of the African Convention to fight Corruption. He is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance as well as former President of the Martin Ennals Foundation. Until recently he was the designated Independent Expert of the Human Rights Council on the situation in Sudan and Special Adviser of the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity.

Currently he is a member of the UN Internal Justice Council and the Special Adviser to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. He is the Founder-President of the Pan-African Alliance for Transparency and the Rule of Law and Special Adviser of the Muslim Council of Elders.

Dieng is an Honorary Chairman of the Washington-based World Justice Project. He is the 7th Honorary President of the International Association for the Defense of Religious Freedom. He has received many honorific distinctions throughout the World including the Raça Negra Tropheu for his eminent contribution in the fight against racism and racial discrimination, The Global Heroes Award, The United Religious Initiative Global Peace-builder Award, The First Awardee of the India based Madina Academy Peace Award, The UN Human Rights Award, The Louis Sohn Human Rights Award to name a few. He was conferred a PhD Honorary Degree by the University of Exeter.

Andrew thompson 2

Professor Andrew Thompson
Director, Oxford Martin Programme on Changing Global Orders

Andy Thompson is Professor of Global & Imperial History at Nuffield College and Co-Director of the Oxford Global History Centre.

He was previously the Chief Executive of the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the International Champion for UK Research and InnovatIon. He was awarded a CBE for his “services to research” in 2021.

Andy is writing a book for Oxford University Press: “Humanitarianism on Trial: How a Global System of Aid and Development Emerged from the End of Empire”. Alongside this, he is the PI on an AHRC-funded project, “International NGOs and the Long Humanitarian Century: Legacy, Legitimacy and Leading into the Future”. He has spoken about his research on the past, present and future of humanitarianism and human rights to the senior executive groups of the United Nations Development Programme, the UK Disasters Emergency Committee, and the US-based NGO consortia InterAction.

He is currently advising former Prime Minister Theresa May on setting up a Global Commission on Modern Slavery having secured in 2016 a £10m investment from the UK government for the world’s first designated research centre into human trafficking. He has a long-standing interest in postcolonial migrations and was also involved in advising the Windrush Lessons Learned Review and commenting on its final report in draft.