The Harvard Humanitarian

The Harvard Humanitarian is a monthly e-newsletter compiled by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) to publicize news, publications, and events in the Harvard community related to advancing responses to humanitarian crises of war and disaster. Please help us make this a robust resource by contributing your Harvard community news items via email.

Julia VanRooyen and PHR Address Congress about Darfur

Following the release of the Sudan Policy Review which outlines the official direction of U.S. policy for Darfur and South Sudan, HHI Fellow Julia VanRooyen and members of Physicians for Human Rights visited congressmen on Capitol Hill and held a public briefing with policy recommendations to ensure women are included in U.S. policy toward Darfur, Sudan and Chad. According to a release from PHR, the physicians "proposed policy changes - including involvement of Darfuri women in strategies to secure their safety - to address gaps in U.S. foreign policy and to end widespread sexual violence against women and girls in Sudan and Chad. The doctors also pressed for provision of appropriate health care for survivors of gender-based violence, as well as an end to impunity for crimes such as rape." The Capitol Hill visit followed a report released by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and PHR earlier this year titled, "Nowhere To Turn: Failure to Protect, Support and Assure Justice for Darfuri Women" that explored the frequency of rape in Darfur and its long-term affects on female refugees living in Chad.

ICCM 2009 Marks Launch of Crisis Mappers Net

Following an energetic and successful first International Conference on Crisis Mapping held on October 16th - 18th, 2009, HHI's Crisis Mapping Program Co-Director Patrick Meier and HHI Crisis Mapping Fellow, Jen Ziemke, announced the launch of the International Network of Crisis Mappers (CM*Net). As the world's premier crisis mapping hub, CM*Net has been designed to encourage communication and collaboration between and among crisis mappers with the purpose of advancing the study and application of crisis mapping worldwide. AlertNet covered the International Conference on Crisis Mapping and Meier and Ziemke's work in the article, "Crisis mapping brings X-ray style clarity to humanitarian response." You can also listen to a podcast interview of Meier discussing his Crisis Mapping Research.

Kirsten Johnson Plays Part in Launch of McGill Program Modeled off of HHI's HSI Program

This July, McGill University kicked off its own version of HHI's Humanitarian Studies Initiative (HSI) under the direction of HHI Faculty Affiliate Kirsten Johnson. With inspiration from the HHI program, McGill hopes to "provide interested residents with a robust education in humanitarian studies while completing the requirements of their individual programs. This initiative will function to create a bridge, linking Harvard, McGill and other elite academic institutions which students can traverse to meet the educational needs required in humanitarian studies: flexibility, diversity, excellence, and comprehensiveness." You can read more about McGill's program by visiting "Humanitarian Studies at McGill and Harvard."

HHI Fellow Sheri Fink Hosts Global Chat, Has Article Published in NY Times Week in Review

Responding to student interest about her August 30th, 2009 NY Times Magazine article "The Deadly Choices at Memorial," on October 14th, HHI Fellow Sheri Fink participated in a Global Chat hosted by the Harvard School of Public Health's Student Government. You can now listen to Sheri Fink's talk online by clicking here. On October 24th, 2009, the NY Times Week in Review published another article of Fink's, "Worst Case: Choosing Who Survives in a Flu Epidemic."

Holiday Card to Benefit HHI

Desperate Housewives star Marcia Cross has designed a holiday card with the proceeds to go to the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. You may purchase the card online from Tiny Prints.

Breast Cancer in the Developing World: Meeting the Unforeseen Challenge to Women, Health and Equity

Tuesday, November 3rd - Thursday, November 5th, 2009
Longwood Medical Area, Boston

Tuesday, Nov. 3rd, 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.; Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; pre-registration required

Wednesday, Nov. 4th, full day beginning at 8:30a.m.; Harvard Medical School, Joseph B. Martin Conference Center; pre-registration recommended

Thursday, Nov. 5th, full day beginning at 8:30a.m.; pre-registration recommended for plenaries, required for workshops

Talks by: Drew Gilpin Faust, President of Harvard University and Lincoln Professor of History; Margarita Zavala, First Lady of Mexico; opening address by Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate in Economics and Thomas W. Lamont University Professor, Harvard; Julio Frenk, Dean, Harvard School of Public Health and more

To register please go to the conference website at:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/breastandhealth; for questions please email: breastandhealth@hsph.harvard.edu

Physicians for Human Rights Regional Advocacy Institute

Saturday, November 7^th, 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Harvard Medical School

PHR Regional Institutes are geared toward instilling a heightened awareness of each student's advocacy power, helping them make new connections, and sharing ideas for taking action during the academic year. This event is open to the public.

Sessions and speakers will include:

PHR: Our Role & Our Impact: Sarah Kalloch, Outreach and Constituency Organizing Director, PHR

"Clean Needles Save Lives: Why and What We Can Do": Paola Barahona, Senior Global Health Advocate, PHR

"Health and Human Rights Education" Panel & Breakout

Leading student activists presenting on sessions such as "Organizing Effective Events" and "Building Relationships with your Member of Congress"

For more information, please email Danielle Fox, PHR Student Program Coordinator, at dfox@phrusa.org or visit www.knowdareact.org.

Child as Citizen Workshop

November 9th-10th, 2009

A scholars workshop hosted by the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, the Harvard School of Public Health and the University Committee on Human Rights Studies.

For more information, visit: Harvard Committee on Human Rights Studies Events.

The Kashmir Initiative Speaker Series: Human Rights Policy for "The World's Most Militarized Dispute"

November 12th, 2009, 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Malkin Penthouse, HKS (4th floor Littauer)

As the U.S. works with India and Pakistan on a diplomatic solution for Kashmir, the voice of the Kashmiri people must not be lost. In an attempt to capture the nuances of the conflict and to build an inclusive dialogue, the Carr Center presents the 2009-10 Speaker Series Kashmir: Human Rights Policy for "The World's Most Militarized Dispute." Weaving in historians, anthropologists, lawyers, policymakers, artists, Kashmiris and non-Kashmiris, we hope to begin a conversation that unravels the issues that led President Obama to classify Kashmir as a diplomatic "tar pit."

The Speaker Series is generously co-sponsored by The South Asia Initiative, at Harvard University. For more information, visit: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/cchrp/sbhrap/projects/kashmir/speaker_series_09.php

Armenian-Turkish Reconciliation: Routes Through Empowerment

Monday, November 16th, 7:00-9:00 p.m.

Tsai Auditorium Armenian & Turkish Rec pic

CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge St.

Join the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the University Committee on Human Rights Studies, and The Carr Center for Human Rights Policy for this Inter-communal Violence and Reconciliation Project event.

Speakers will include:

Hasan Cemal, Author, Journalist, Grandson of Cemal Pasha
Asbed Kotchikian, Bentley University
Yektan Turkyilmaz, Duke University

Chairs/Moderators:

Pamela Steiner, Ed.D., Senior Fellow at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Great-grandaughter of Ambassador Henry Morgenthau
Eileen Babbit, Ph.D., Professor of Practice in International Conflict Management, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy

For more information, visit HHI's Events Page.

New Frontiers for Malaria Eradication: Innovation from Discovery to Delivery

Tuesday, December 8th, 1:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.