| Help Us Make a Difference! | 
|
|
|
Greetings!
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. |
| SPECIAL FEATURE: SATELLITE SENTINEL PROJECT |
|
Satellite Sentinel Project Evidence Used to Build ICC Case Against Alleged War Criminal
|
| |
Images published by the Satellite Sentinel Project on Nov. 30, 2011 show evidence of the razing of the Sudanese village of 'Amara in Blue Nile State. (Photo courtesy of DigitalGlobe)
|
On December 2, 2011, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo requested that an arrest warrant be issued for current Sudanese Defense Minister Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein, a senior Sudanese military officer who served as Minister of the Interior from 2003 to 2007 and as Minister of Defense since 2007. The Prosecutor took this action based on the alleged crimes he committed in Darfur from August 2003 to March 2004 as a senior security official for the Sudanese regime.
In addition to the possible war crimes being investigated under the ICC mandate, Time Magazine reports that the ICC is separately building a case that Hussein may be behind ongoing conflicts in the border region between Sudan and South Sudan. A "significant portion" of the new investigation is based on data from the Satellite Sentinel Project, which has documented military movements, the bombing of villages, and patterns of civilian population displacement in the region since December. Though the ICC investigation may not necessarily cause any additional war crimes charges, it illustrates the evolving role projects like SSP have in bringing to light otherwise ignored human security concerns.
For more information on the most recent SSP reports, please click here. For more information on the ICC arrest warrant for Defense Minister Hussein, and background on the security situation in Sudan and Southern Sudan, please see the Enough Project's fact sheet on the situation.
The Satellite Sentinel Project is HHI's chief project in the Crisis Mapping and Early Warning Program. SSP is a collaborative endeavor combining satellite imagery, on-the-ground field reporting, and crisis mapping systems into a unified monitoring platform to detect, deter, and document threats to vulnerable populations. HHI runs the research, operational, and technical components of the Satellite Sentinel Project, which represents a signal achievement in the development of "protective humanitarian" technologies by employing the strategic collection and targeted presentation of data to deter and prevent mass atrocities. SSP's work related to the crisis in Sudan marks the first sustained, public effort to systematically monitor and report on potential hotspots and threats to security along a border.
|
|
ANNOUNCEMENTS
| |
Winter 2012 Cogan Fund for Humanitarian Studies Recipients Announced
 HHI is pleased to announce the recipients of its winter 2012 Cogan Fund for Humanitarian Studies grants.
A list of the sponsored undergraduate and graduate students, as well as information on their project countries and research topics, is below:
- Josh Glasser, Harvard School of Public Health
Vulnerability to Climate Change in Dhaka's Slums (Bangladesh) - Michelle Lee, Harvard College
Creating a Locally Sustainable Malnutrition Protocol for the Rukungiri (Uganda) - Saurabh Saluja, Harvard Medical School
Natasha Sunderji, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Evaluation of Existing Task-Shifting Programs in Mozambique and Angola (Angola and Mozambique) - Sonya Soni, Harvard Divinity School
Psychosocial Needs of Kashmir's Orphaned Children (Kashmir) - Delia Wendel, PhD Candidate, Harvard Faculty of Arts & Sciences
Rebuilding after the Genocide in Rwanda: Space and the Ethics of Transition (Rwanda)
The Cogan Family Fund for Humanitarian Studies provides funds for undergraduate and graduate students at Harvard University who are conducting field research in crisis-affected settings. The fund enables students to obtain international experience and an understanding of the cross-disciplinary nature of humanitarian work. Students interested in advancing research, practice, and policy in the field of humanitarian assistance to populations affected by war, disaster, and other crises are encouraged to apply. Successful applicants are eligible to receive support for travel and research related expenses. For more information and a list of the previous Cogan Fund recipients, please click here.
Director of Women in War Program Featured in Nobel Women's Initiative 16 Days of Activism Campaign
 Last month, Jocelyn Kelly, MS, Director of HHI's Women in War Program was featured as part of the Nobel Women's Initiative's annual 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign. Kelly was highlighted for her work to examine the impact of sexual violence on communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as her effort to advance a broader understanding of "gender-based violence."
In the past months, HHI's Women in War Program has been active publishing original research on topics related to gender-based violence as well as disseminating these lessons in international intellectual forums. Jocelyn Kelly has been featured on Public Radio International's The World , IRIN Africa, and a number of other media outlets. For more information on the Women in War Program in the media, please click here.
HHI Faculty Members Publish Research Examining the Unique Health Impacts of Earthquakes
In the first 10 months of 2011, earthquakes caused over 780,000 deaths globally--almost 60% of disaster-related mortality. Because earthquakes frequently affect populous urban areas with poor structural standards, they often result in high death rates and mass casualties with many traumatic injuries. In response to the unique epidemiology of these natural disasters, HHI Faculty Member Susan Bartels, MD, and Michael VanRooyen, MD, Director of HHI have published an article in the medical journal The Lancet investigating the most common injuries in these situations.
Their research shows that injuries caused by earthquakes are highly mechanical and often multisystem, requiring intensive curative medical and surgical care at a time when the local and regional medical response capacities have been at least partly disrupted. Many patients surviving blunt and penetrating trauma and crush injuries have subsequent complications that lead to additional morbidity and mortality.
For more information on this research, please see the BBC, Los Angeles Times, or Medical News Today articles on its release.
KoBo Toolbox Highlighted as Important Resource for Liberia National Survey
 In fall 2010, a team of interviewers spread out across Liberia to consult community members about peace, security, and reconstruction. In a new post on Humanity United's blog, HHI Faculty Member Patrick Vinck, PhD, discusses how the use of KoBo Toolbox technology aided in this survey--the largest of its kind for Liberia.
KoBo Toolbox is an integrated suite of applications for handheld digital data collection developed by HHI Faculty Members Phuong Pham, PhD and Patrick Vinck, PhD. Digital data collection is superior to paper-based methods in terms of speed, data quality, and security, and is a cost-effective alternative to manual data entry. KoBo Toolbox's implementation in Liberia is just one of a host of examples of its use in research-gathering; for more examples, please see the user showcases here.
HHI Faculty Member Serves on Mission to Libya to Examine Security in Post Conflict Situation
Hani Mowafi, MD, MPH, Associate Faculty member of HHI, recently traveled to Libya with Physicians for Human Rights to investigate the medical situation in the wake of Libya's bloody civil war. In line with this mission, the group investigated prison camps and massacre sites, as well as performed interviews and medical exams with torture victims. For more information on HHI's Fellows program and for a list of our current affiliates, please click here.
|
| UPCOMING EVENTS |
|
Harvard Office of Career Services Wintersession:
Career Trek to Physicians for Human Rights
 Thursday, January 19, 2012
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Cambridge, Massachusetts
As part of Harvard College's Wintersession (January 13-22), the Office of Career Services is planning a number of events intended to expose students to career opportunities in a variety of fields.
Join us for a trek to the Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) headquarters in Cambridge for a tour and to learn about their work using the integrity of medicine and science to stop mass atrocities and severe human rights violations against individuals. You'll hear presentations about their programs and work around the world as well as how you might get involved! This trek is limited to 15 participants. Please register through Crimson Careers.
Wintersession Event: Oxfam Hunger Banquet
 Friday, January 20, 2011
6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Ticknor Lounge, Boylston Hall
Interested in learning more about global hunger? The Harvard Undergraduate Global Health Forum and the Harvard International Relations Council will be hosting an event modeled after the Oxfam America Hunger Banquet, which aims to raise awareness of global hunger and poverty, and to educate students regarding specific issues in hunger, nutrition, and agricultural policy. Come and engage in a discussion with experts while participating in an interactive meal depicting global economic stratification, through which you will learn about the causes of hunger worldwide and how to make a difference. You will leave the banquet with a new-found perspective on the root causes of hunger and poverty-and will feel motivated to do something to help.
For more information, please contact global@hcs.harvard.edu or bgogis@college.harvard.edu.
|
PUBLICATIONS & PRESS
|
|
- BBC News, "Earthquakes have a bigger health toll than other disasters," November 4, 2011.
- Brown, Eryn, "Earthquakes' medical toll: 'devastating'," Los Angeles Times, November 3, 2011.
- Burkle, Frederick M. Jr.; Redmond, Anthony D.; McArdle, Dudley F., "An authority for crisis coordination and accountability," The Lancet, October 17, 2011.
- Burkle, Frederick M. Jr., "The Limits to Our Capacity: Reflections on Resiliency, Community Engagement, and Recovery in 21st-Century Crises," Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness 5, September 2011.
- Burkle, Frederick M. Jr.; Argent, Andrew C.; Kissoon, Niranjan, "The reality of pediatric emergency mass critical care in the developing world," Pediatric Critical Care Medicine 12 (6): S169-S179, November 2011.
- Burkle, Frederick M. Jr. and Niranjan Kissoon, "Pediatric emergency mass critical care: The role of community preparedness in conserving critical care resources," Pediatric Critical Care Medicine 12 (6): S141-S151, November 2011.
- Christian, Michael D, et. al., "Treatment and triage recommendations for pediatric emergency mass critical care," Pediatric Critical Care Medicine 12 (6): S109-S119, November 2011.
- Druke, Luise, "Mobilizing for refugee protection: reflections on the 60th anniversary of UNHCR and the 1951 Refugee Convention" UNHCR Research Paper No. 226, November 2011.
- Koenig, Kristi L and Frederick M. Burkle, Jr., "Downwind from the Great Tohoku Earthquake: A Call to Global Action," Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, September 23, 2011.
- Kissoon, Niranjan for the Task Force for Pediatric Emergency Mass Critical Care, "Deliberations and recommendations of the Pediatric Emergency Mass Critical Care Task Force: Executive summary," Pediatric Critical Care Medicine 12 (6): S103-S108, November 2011.
- Leow, Jeffrey J; Cheng, Daryl R; Burkle, Frederick M. Jr., "Doctors and global health: tips for medical students and junior doctors," Medical Journal of Australia 195 (11/12): 657-659, 2011.
- Mullins, Lisa, "Face to face with Congo rapists," PRI's The World, October 14, 2011.
- Phuong, Pham N.; Vinck, Patrick; Balthazard, Mychelle; Strasser, Judith; Om, Chariya, "Victim Participation and the Trial of Duch at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia," Journal of Human Rights Practice 2011 3: 264-287.
- Rattue, Petra, "Earthquakes Have Devastating Health Effects," Medical News Today, November 3, 2011.
- Zafar, Syed and K. A. Kelly McQueen, "Surgery, Public Health, and Pakistan," World Journal of Surgery 5(12): 2625-2634, 2011.
|
|
About The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
HHI fosters interdisciplinary collaboration at Harvard University in order to improve the effectiveness of humanitarian strategies for relief, protection, and prevention; instill human rights principles and practices in these strategies; and educate and train the next generation of humanitarian leaders. In 2005, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative was established as a University-wide interfaculty academic and research center, supported by the Office of the Provost and the Harvard School of Public Health with the participation of faculty from Harvard schools and affiliated hospitals. For more information, visit www.hhi.harvard.edu.
|
|
|
