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Sexual Violence and the Political and Security Implications in the Congo

June 30, 2011 @ 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm

“Sexual Violence and the Political and Security Implications in the Congo”

Thursday, June 30, 2011, 2:00–3:30 p.m.

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center
One Woodrow Wilson Plaza
1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

 

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Welcome and Introduction:

 

Michael Van Dusen, Executive Vice President and COO, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

 

Panel:

 

María Otero, Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs, U.S. Department of State

 

Dr. Denis Mukwege, Director of Panzi Hospital, South Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); 2010-2011 Winner of the King Baudouin International Development Prize

 

Mark Schneider, Senior Vice President, International Crisis Group

 

Moderator:

 

Steven McDonald, Director, Africa Program and Project on Leadership and Building State Capacity, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

This event is co-sponsored by the International Crisis Group and the King Baudouin Foundation (KBF).

 

Combating sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to be an enormous challenge for the country and the international community.  Join us for this important event, which will highlight Dr. Mukwege’s work at the Panzi Hospital, along with a broader discussion with Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs María Otero on the current constraints and opportunities within the political and security environment in the DRC.

 

 

Michael Van Dusen is the Executive Vice President of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.  He has been a member of the Wilson Center’s staff since 1999.  He held the former position of Deputy Director of the Center. 

 

Prior to his time at the Wilson Center, he worked for close to thirty years in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving as Staff Consultant and then Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East of the Committee of Foreign Affairs, then Chief of Staff of the Committee on Foreign Affairs; and finally as Democratic Chief of Staff of the Committee on International Relations. 

 

María Otero was sworn in as Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs on August 10, 2009. She oversees and coordinates U.S. foreign relations on a variety of human security issues across the globe — democracy, human rights, population, refugees, trafficking in persons, rule of law, counter-narcotics, crisis prevention and response, and water security.  She also serves as the President’s Special Representative for Tibetan Issues.

 

Born in La Paz, Bolivia, Ms. Otero is currently the highest ranking Hispanic official at the State Department, and the first Latina Under Secretary in its history.  Ms. Otero was formerly the President and CEO of ACCION International, a pioneer and leader in economic development working in 25 countries around the globe.  She is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on inclusive economic growth, women’s issues and international development. 

 

Dr. Denis Mukwege is the Director of the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, where he provides medical and psychological care to thousands of victims of sexual violence and assists mostly women with reintegration in their local communities.  Dr. Mukwege's work recently garnered him the prestigious King Baudouin International Development Prize, awarded every other year by the King Baudouin Foundation (KBF) to an individual or organization for sustainable achievements in improving the lives of people in the developing world.  

 

Dr. Mukwege will speak in French and simultaneous translation will be provided for the event.

 

Mark L. Schneider joined the International Crisis Group (ICG), a multinational non-governmental conflict prevention organization, in spring 2001 as Senior Vice President and Director of the Washington advocacy office, conveying Crisis Group analyses and recommendations to the U.S. Government, as well as the World Bank, OAS and the IDB.  He has testified frequently before Congress and traveled for Crisis Group to conflict areas in Africa, South Asia, Latin America and the Balkans.  Schneider served as the Director of the Peace Corps from 1999-2001 and as the Assistant Administrator of the USAID from 1993-1999 for Latin America and the Caribbean. He was the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs from 1977-1979 and a foreign policy advisor to Senator Edward M. Kennedy from 1970-76.

 

Steve McDonald is currently the Director for the Africa and Leadership and State Capacity Building Programs of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.  He has, since 2002, been involved in the design and implementation of projects in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Liberia that seek to build leadership capacity in these post-conflict societies to enable the democratic transitions and recovery through imparting communications, negotiations, and collaborative decision making skills and breaking through the barriers of mistrust and suspicion that prevent the leadership from working together to sustain those transitions.

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Details

Date:
June 30, 2011
Time:
2:00 pm - 3:30 pm