No More Rwandas or Darfurs: The International Responsibility to Protect
The Hon. Gareth Evans AO QC
Eastern Avenue Auditorium - University of Sydney
Friday 3 September 2004
Gareth Evans (right) and Stuart Rees
Gareth Evans has been since January 2000 President and Chief Executive of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG), an independent multinational non-governmental organisation with 90 full-time staff on five continents which works, through field-based analysis and high-level policy advocacy, to prevent and resolve deadly conflict. In 2000-2001 he was co-chair, with Mohamed Sahnoun, of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS), appointed by the Government of Canada, which published its report, The Responsibility to Protect, in December 2001.
Gareth Evans holds first class honours degrees in Law from Melbourne University and in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University (MA). He was Attorney General (1983-84), Minister for Resources and Energy (1984-87), Minister for Transport and Communications (1987-88) and one of Australia's longest serving Foreign Ministers (1988-1996). He is best known internationally for his roles in helping to develop the UN peace plan for Cambodia, bring to a conclusion the international Chemical Weapons Convention, found the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), and initiate the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
He is currently a member of the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, and of the International Task Force on Global Public Goods, sponsored by Sweden and France, and Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Governance Initiative Peace and Security Expert Group.
Gareth Evans' paper.
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2004 United Nations Human Rights Commission
What happened in Geneva?
Margaret Reynolds -
16 June 2004
 Margaret Reynolds has attended the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva for the past three years to present an independent NGO perspective of Australian human rights policy and to monitor the Federal Government's priorities at this international human rights forum.
Margaret’s Sydney Peace Foundation lecture summarised the work of the Commission and highlighted 2004’s major resolutions. She identified Australia's voting record and commented on future NGO strategies to monitor Australia's compliance with its international obligations.
Responding to Margaret was the Hon. Dr. Meredith Bergmann, MLA, President of the Legislative Council.
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 (The following story appeared in the CPACS publication PeaceWrites in December 2004.)
In a gala dinner at McLaurin Hall at the University of Sydney on the evening of 4 November, the Governor Marie Bashir awarded the 2004 Sydney Peace Prize to Indian writer and human rights activist Arundhati Roy.
In the audience were the Acting Premier, Andrew Refshauge, the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor of the University, and many leading figures from government, business, academia, the arts, and the Aboriginal community. Representatives from the three Aboriginal groups to whom Arundhati donated her $50,000 were present, and expressed their thanks to her.
It was a busy week for Arundhati. Official events started on Tuesday with a number of press interviews, then Arundhati and her husband Pradip Krishen were whisked away to a Manly pub where they witnessed Australian culture close up with the running of Melbourne Cup. Wednesday began with a press conference at the Seymour Centre, followed by more press interviews. That night, Arundhati thrilled a sell-out crowd at the City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture. 1500 people in both the Seymour Centre's theatres rose to their feet in applause after an address in which Arundhati lyrically exposed the cowardly war on Iraq.
"It was a war in which a band of rich nations, armed with enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world several times over, rounded on a poor nation, falsely accused it of having nuclear weapons, used the United Nations to force it to disarm, then invaded it, occupied it and are now in the process of selling it."
On Thursday morning, Arundhati came down to the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies in Glebe to meet with the representatives from Mudgin Gal, Weena Mooga Gu Gudba, and The Connection, the three aboriginal organisations to whom she donated her prize winnings, and to talk to students and guests of CPACS. This was followed by a peaceful harbourside lunch with members of the Sydney Peace Foundation's executive committee, then Arundhati was taken to Government House for a private audience with the Governor, at the Governor's request.
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Thursday night's Award Ceremony was the highlight of the week, with Arundhati relaxed and convivial in the formal setting. Guests at the dinner took their cue from Arundhati and in the friendly and warm atmosphere Arundhati welcomed approaches from all those wanting to have their picture taken with her, seeking her autograph, or just wishing to have a few words with her and experience her unique and thought- provoking point of view.
Arundhati's final event in Sydney was a sold-out seminar at the Art Gallery of New South Wales where Stuart Rees, Director of the Sydney Peace Foundation and the Centre For Peace and Conflict Studies, engaged the Booker Prize winning author in a conversation which covered topics of peace with justice, literature, and the corruptive effect of power.
Again Arundhati's humility, humour, and incisive world view shone through. The seminar ended with Prof. Rees reading a poem that he had written specially for Arundhati, inspired by the occasion of their first meeting in Delhi. Arundhati then spent 90 minutes signing books and talking to members of the audience.
After their packed schedule of events, Arundhati and Pradip have taken the opportunity to see a little more of Australia, spending a few days exploring the South Coast, and recent rumours have them spotted on an island off the Queensland coast.
CPACS members and students at a seminar with
Arundhati Roy |
