2017

25th January: Sandrine Tiller, Humanitarian Adviser (MSF-UK)

Sandrine Tiller has been working with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) since 2011. In her role as a humanitarian adviser, she provides analysis and carries out advocacy to support MSF operations and field teams. Her expertise is in humanitarian issues, particularly in the politicisation of aid and the current state of the aid system. She is the co-author of MSF ’s report ‘Where is everyone? Responding to emergencies in the most difficult places.’

Prior to MSF , Sandrine worked for seven years with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Middle East files in Geneva and was posted to Jerusalem and Beirut. Sandrine has also worked with local grassroots organisations in Venezuela, with the UN Volunteers programme in Eritrea and Tanzania, and the British Red Cross.

14th February *12-2pm, Keynes Hall, King’s College* Antonio Marchesi, President, Amnesty International Italy.

The disappearance, torture and murder of University of Cambridge PhD student Giulio Regeni in Cairo has shed a spotlight on widespread human rights violations in Egypt, including the enforced disappearance of hundreds of Egyptian citizens over the past two years. Research recently published by Amnesty International has exposed the central role played by the Egyptian Ministry of the Interior, and collusion by the judiciary, in a large number of these cases.

In this lecture, Dr Antonio Marchesi, Professor of Law at Università di Teramo and President of Amnesty International’s Italy section will reflect on the implications of Giulio Regeni’s case for efforts to secure justice for victims of human rights violations in a transnational context and share his experience as a human rights practitioner from leading Amnesty International Italy’s campaign (“Verità per Giulio”) which has combined a variety of methods including media work, public meetings, collecting signatures, hanging yellow banners on public and private buildings, lobbying while building a broad-based alliance of key individuals including Giulio’s parents, with journalists, MPs and civil society organisations to draw attention not only to Giulio’s own case but also other human rights violations in Egypt.

15th February: Marcus Lenzen, Senior Conflict Adviser, UK Department for International Development (DFID)

Marcus Lenzen joined the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) in 2009. He is currently the Senior Conflict Adviser in the Conflict, Humanitarian and Security Department (CHASE) and leads a team driving DFID ’s policy on building peace and stability. Previous DFID roles included Acting Humanitarian Counselor at the UK Mission in Geneva, lead Conflict Adviser in Nigeria and policy lead on multilateral peacebuilding institutions. Marcus held prior positions on development, peacebuilding and transitional justice with UNDP and GIZ . He has worked in and on a range of countries including the Balkans, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Timor Leste, Guatemala and Peru. In 2013/14, he was a Visiting Fellow at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and has served in a number of advisory roles, including as a member of Wilton Park’s Advisory Council and on research programmes at Oxford University and the International Center for Transitional Justice. He holds an MSc in Development Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and an MA in Politics, Modern History, and Applied Cultural Studies from the University of Muenster (Germany).

22nd February: Fiona O’Brien, foreign correspondent, UN press officer, academic

Fiona O’Brien began her career as a district reporter on the Kent and Sussex Courier before moving to Reuters. She spent several years as a foreign correspondent based in Africa and the Middle East, reporting on conflicts and post-conflict societies including Iraq, Sudan, the DRC and Madagascar. She was a consultant editor for the United Nations in Khartoum, and spent three years as editor of London-based Gulf States News. She now lectures in journalism at Kingston University.