East-West Center Research Program Seminar

February 13, 9:00am - 9:00am
Manoa Campus, East-West Center

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Stephan Sakalian
Adviser for Multilateral Affairs in Asia
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Noon – 1pm
Burns Hall, Room 3012

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial, neutral and independent humanitarian organization, which works to help people affected by wars and other situations of armed violence worldwide, including in the Asia Pacific. It aims to improve their lives and enhance their rights and dignity. Promoting international humanitarian law (IHL) and other fundamental rules that apply to situations of armed violence is at the core of the ICRC's mandate.

During his presentation, Mr. Stephan Sakalian, Adviser of the ICRC for Multilateral Affairs in Asia, will briefly review the main operational challenges of the ICRC in the Asia Pacific region, and give an insight of the ICRC's humanitarian diplomacy on the regional multilateral scene, which aims at reinforcing exchange and cooperation in the area of IHL and humanitarian affairs with regional organizations such as the ASEAN, the ASEAN Regional Forum and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Among other topics, the humanitarian situation in Myanmar or the significance of the ASEAN Charter signed by the ASEAN leaders in last November, will be discussed.

Stephan Sakalian is the Adviser for Multilateral Affairs in Asia of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), since November 2005. He is in charge of the ICRC's relations with key regional organizations and think tanks of Asia-Pacific, with the purpose of reinforcing exchange and cooperation in the area of humanitarian action and International Humanitarian Law (IHL).Prior to his current assignment, Mr Sakalian has completed several missions for the ICRC in various positions: Delegate in Eritrea from 2000 to 2001, Delegate in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan from 2001 to 2002, Delegate in Guantanamo Bay (USA) in September 2002, Deputy Head of Regional Delegation in Central Asia from 2002 to 2004 and Head of Mission in Abkhazia, Georgia from 2004 to 2005.After graduating at the Institute of Political Studies (IEP) of Aix-en-Provence in 1997, Mr. Sakalian obtained his Diplôme d'Etudes Appliquées (DEA) at the Department of Post-Communist Studies of the Institute of Political Sciences ("Sciences Po") in 1998 and studied Russian at the National Institute of Eastern Languages and Civilisations (INALCO), in Paris.

Event Sponsor
EWC Research Program, Research Program

More Information
Laura Moriyama, 944-7444, moriyaml@eastwestcenter.org

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