The Challenges of Peacebuilding

In this conversation, Dr David Harland will reflect on his experience working as a mediator and negotiator in conflict zones and his role as Director of the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. The Centre was awarded the Carnegie Wateler Peace Prize in 2022 “for its track record of finding the means, including mediation, to bring parties together and end conflicts”. Its work has included involvement in Aceh and Mindanao, assisting with the disbanding of the Basque separatist group ETA, and the Black Sea Grain Initiative. David will share insights on the challenges of peacebuilding in an era of growing competition and contestation.

Dr David Harland is a former New Zealand diplomat and Executive Director of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), a Geneva-based foundation that specialises in the mediation of armed conflict. He previously worked for the United Nations, including in Bosnia, Kosovo, Haiti and Timor Leste, and he wrote the UN Secretary-General’s landmark report on the fall of Srebrenica. David serves on the UN Secretary-General’s high-level advisory board on mediation. He has degrees from Harvard University, Tufts University, Beijing University and Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.

The event will be followed by light refreshments.