About the Event
Â鶹AV's Institute for the Study of International Development (ISID) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)ĚýwereĚýpleased to co-sponsor the Canadian launch of the United Nations' new publication, 'Natural Resources and Conflict: A Guide to Mediation Practitioners'. The event tookĚýplace on 26 November 2015, from 17:00 to 19:30, at the Faculty Club of Â鶹AV, 3450 McTavish Street, MontrĂ©al.
The event was one of a number of launch activities taking place in different countries around the world. The Guide is the product of collaboration between UNEP and the United Nations Department of Political Affairs (UN DPA).
The Guide focuses on the role of mediation and related approaches to dispute resolution regarding resource conflicts in complex political environments where disputes are associated with violence, the risk of violence or broader processes of political instability. The Guide covers mediation regarding both complex 'stand-alone' disputes, as well as the negotiation of natural resource issues within the framework of broader peace negotiations. The Guide focuses on conflicts regarding the extractives sector, land and water, respectively.
Professor Philip Oxhorn, Founding Director of the Institute for the Study of International Development at Â鶹AV, and Professor Daniel Jutras, Dean of the Faculty of Law at Â鶹AV, introduced the evening. Presentations and a discussionĚýfollowed the event, benefitting from the rich experience of a panel of established international experts including Principal Contributing Authors of the Guide.
About Institute for the Study of International Development
Founded in 2008, ISID works to improve people’s lives through cutting edge research, training and communication intended to accelerate global sustainable development. It does this by educating successive generations of socially responsible and politically engaged students, developing intellectual capacity, and conducting leading edge research that is relevant for policymaking. Equally important, ISID is committed to connecting our teaching and research with the decision makers and principal actors tackling today’s most pressing issues by supporting and engaging with NGOs, governments, community organizations, private sector actors, and civil society more broadly, working to increase our collective capacity for achieving sustainable development that will lead to economic and social improvements across the globe. Through our public events and our policy of full open-access publications, ISID strives to become a global platform for informing the general public about the changing nature of development challenges and their potential solutions.
About United Nations Environment Programme
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.
Panelists
Michael Brown ´ĄĚýFrancois CrĂ©peau | Jeffrey Davidson | David Jensen | Louise Otis
Michael Brown
Senior Expert in Natural Resources, Environmental Diplomacy and Mediation at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Professor of Practice in Conflict Mediation in the Institute for the Study of International Development at Â鶹AV, and Principal Contributing Author of the UN Resource Mediation Guide
Michael Brown is a Professor of Practice in Conflict Mediation at Â鶹AV, and one of the principal contributing authors of the new UN publication titled, Natural Resources and Conflict: A Guide for Mediation Practitioners. He is a Senior Expert on Natural Resources, Environmental Diplomacy and Mediation for the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and held the position of Senior Mediation Expert on Land and Natural Resource Conflicts on the UN Department of Political Affairs' (DPA) Standby Mediation Team for two years. His experience covers extractive industry, land and water disputes.
Mr. Brown's experience in mediation, conflict and peacebuilding spans many regions and countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa and North America. He has held leadership and senior advisory positions with UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN DPA, the World Bank, UN peace missions and large international consulting companies. Among his many professional publications, he was also a key contributing author of USAID's publication Land and Conflict: A Toolkit for Intervention.
Before working internationally, Mr. Brown worked in Canada in environmental and natural resources law, aboriginal law, policy development and alternative dispute resolution. Mr. Brown has degrees in Law (J.D.) and Geography (B.Sc.), and was called to the Bar in the Province of Ontario. He speaks English, Spanish and French.
Email: michaelbrown100 [at] gmail.com, michael.j.brown [at] mcgill.ca
Francois Crépeau
Special UN Rapporteur on Human Rights of Migrants, Director of the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism, Professor and Oppenheimer Chair in Public International Law in the Faculty of Law at Â鶹AV
François CrĂ©peau is Full Professor and holds the Hans and Tamar Oppenheimer Chair in Public International Law, at the Faculty of Law of Â鶹AV. He has been appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants in 2011. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In August 2015, he became Director of Â鶹AV's Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism for a three-year mandate.
The focus of his current research includes migration control mechanisms, the rights of foreigners, the interface between security and migration, and the interface between the Rule of Law and globalization.
He has given many conferences, published numerous articles, and written or directed five books: Les migrations internationales contemporaines – Une dynamique complexe au cœur de la globalisation (2009), Penser l'international, Perspectives et contributions des sciences sociales (2007), Forced Migration and Global Processes - A View from Forced Migration Studies (2006), Mondialisation des échanges et fonctions de l'État (1997) and Droit d'asile: De l'hospitalité aux contrôles migratoires (1995).
He heads the “Mondialisation et droit international” collection at Éditions Bruylant-Larcier (Brussels) and is a member of several editorial committees: International Journal of Refugee Law, Journal of Refugee Studies, Refugee Law Reader, Refuge, Droits Fondamentaux.
From 2001 to 2008, he was a professor at the Université de Montréal, holder of the Canada Research Chair in International Migration Law, and founding scientific director of the Centre d’études et de recherches internationales de l’Université de Montréal (CÉRIUM). From 1990 to 2001, he was a professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal.
He has been guest professor at the following institutions : Université catholique de Louvain (2010-2015); Institut international des droits de l’homme (Strasbourg) (2001, 2002, 2007, 2008) ; Graduate Institute for International Studies (IUHEI-Genève, 2007), Institut des hautes études internationales, Université de Paris II (2002), Université d’Auvergne-Clermont 1 (1997). He was a Fellow 2008-2011 of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.
Until 2011, he also sat on the Quebec Law Society’s Committee on Human Rights and Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, was the “Justice, police and Security” domain coordinator for the Quebec Metropolis Center and was a member of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. He served as vice-president of the Canadian Human Rights Foundation (now Equitas) (1992-2004) and director of the Revue québécoise de droit international (1996-2004). He participated in observer missions in the occupied Palestinian territories (2002) and in El Salvador (1991). He was also a fellow of the Institute for Research in Public Policies (IRPP). The Barreau du Québec awarded him the Advocatus Emeritus distinction in 2014.
Professor Crépeau is always interested in supervising graduate research on international, comparative and domestic legal issues relating to:
- The rights and freedoms of refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, migrant workers, and persons belonging to minorities;
- Migration and refugee policies at local, national, regional or universal level;
- Diversity and multiculturalism policies.
Jeffrey Davidson
Canada's Extractive Sector Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor
Jeffrey Davidson brings extensive work experience related to corporate social responsibility across private and not-for-profit sectors, countries and cultures to his appointment as Extractive Sector CSR Counsellor. He has been involved with mining and mineral resource development for the past 35 years as a project engineer, policy and program advisor, community worker and teacher. He has been a long-time and early advocate and practitioner in the areas of socially responsible mining operations and constructive company-community engagement.
As a member of Rio Tinto's Global Communities Practice Team, Mr. Davidson worked out of Rio Tinto’s offices in Australia and Washington, DC from 2006 to 2011, with responsibility for supporting corporate- and site-level work in community relations and social responsibility, including applying social due diligence and evaluation of new projects and project expansions. In this capacity, he co-authored Rio Tinto's resource guide for integrating gender considerations at the community-level.Ěý
In addition to his work with Rio Tinto, Mr. Davidson was the community relations manager at project sites for Placer Dome Latin America in Venezuela (1996-2000) and for Energy Resources of Australia at their Ranger operation (2006-2007), working directly with both indigenous and non-indigenous communities.
He also spent four years in the Mining Policy Unit of the World Bank (2001-2005) on country projects in Romania, Mongolia, Mozambique and Nigeria.Ěý As part of his responsibilities at the World Bank, he worked on developing toolkits relating to HIV-AIDS in the mining sector, helped to address community development challenges around mining projects, and coordinated an international knowledge-sharing and learning network on Communities and Small-Scale Mining (CASM).Ěý
In 2011, Mr. Davidson left the private sector to join the Mining Department of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, where he was responsible for teaching foundation courses in mineral industry economics, as well as the sustainability and social responsibility dimensions of mining practices, to undergraduate mineral engineering students. He also organized and coordinated a graduate certificate program in Community Relations for the Extractive Industries.
David Jensen
Head of Environmental Cooperation for Peacebuilding at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and Principal Contributing Author of the UN Resource Mediation Guide.
David Jensen heads the Environmental Cooperation for Peacebuilding programme of the UN Environment Programme. His portfolio of work focuses on how natural resources contribute to conflict, as well as how they can be managed in ways that create jobs, sustain livelihoods, and contribute to economic recovery and peacebuilding, without creating new grievances or significant environmental degradation. He has worked on 15 post-conflict operations from Afghanistan and Iraq to Sierra Leone and more recently in Cote d'Ivoire. In addition to field work, he also focuses on integrating natural resource risks and opportunities across UN policies on conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. His most recent policy report "Greening the Blue Helmets: Environment, Natural Resources and UN Peacekeeping Operations" focuses on how peacekeeping operations can minimize their environmental footprint while also helping post-conflict governments restore and extend their authority into resource rich areas. Visit the New Knowledge Platform Launched onĚýNatural Resources, Conflict and Peacebuilding.
He is currently co-managing a new series of six flagship books on natural resources and peacebuilding, involving over 230 contributors capturing lessons learned from over 50 different post-conflict countries. He is also the co-editor of one of the books within the series entitled 'Assessing and Restoring Natural Resources in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding'. He holds a bachelor's degree in geography and political science from the University of Victoria and a master's degree in biology from the University of Oxford.
Louise Otis
Retired Justice of the Quebec Court of Appeal, Adjunct President of the Administrative Tribunal of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), President of the Appeal Court at the International Organization of La Francophonie, and Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Law at Â鶹AV
Louise Otis works as a civil and commercial mediator and arbitrator at the Canadian and international levels. She is also Adjunct Professor at Â鶹AV’s Faculty of Law. She isĚýa distinguished fellow of the International Academy of Mediators (IAM).
She is President of the Administrative Tribunal of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). She is also President of the Appeal Court at the International Organization of La Francophonie (IOF). She is a member of the Administrative Tribunal of the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).
She is a retired Justice of the Quebec Court of Appeal where she spearheaded the introduction of judicial mediation. She has conducted over 800 mediation sessions in commercial and civil law.
Louise Otis regularly participates in international governance and justice reform missions with the United Nations (UN), International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) member of the World Bank Group (WB).
Louise Otis was appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General to a 5-member Panel of independent international experts in charge of redesigning the United Nations system of administration of Justice. She has created a system of transitional justice for countries affected by armed conflicts and/or environmental disasters.
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Publication & Statements
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Guide Introduction
That land and natural resources can ignite, fuel or prolong conflict is widely recognized. Mediation’s importance as a tool for conflict prevention and peacebuilding in the context of resources-related conflicts is also increasingly understood.
In an effort to provide mediation professionals with good practices and actual strategies for using mediation in preventing and resolving conflicts involving land and natural resources, the Mediation Support Unit, Policy and Mediation Division of the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) together with Columbia University’s Centre for International Conflict Resolution (CICR); and the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD) developed a research project on mediating natural resource conflicts. The project was also supported by the UN-EU Partnership on Land, Natural Resources and Conflict Prevention.
In November 2011, the project partners brought together over thirty natural resource mediation practitioners for a workshop in New York in order to share their own good practices and lessons learned on mediating natural resource conflicts. The ideas discussed at the workshop formed the basis of a guide entitled “Natural Resources and Conflict: A Guide for Mediation Practitioners”. The Guide was also subject to external peer review, which greatly enhanced the quality and clarity of the content.
Statement from Dr. Philip Oxhorn:
“In a world that seems to be increasingly marked by growing violence, it is refreshing to be able to offer an alternative, peaceful way to deal with conflict. ISID is proud to co-sponsor Canada launch of Natural Resources and Conflict: A Guide for Mediation Practitioners, and in this way contribute to the training of future experts in conflict mediation.”
Statement from Mr. Michael Brown:
"Natural resource and land drive a growing number of disputes and conflicts around the world, with potentially serious implications for peace and security at national, regional and international levels. The UN recognizes the need to mitigate and resolve these disputes far more systematically and effectively, yet mediation - one of the most suited conflict management tools for the task - is significantly underutilized by the international system. For these reasons, the UN has published and is launching its new Natural Resource Mediation Guide around the world."
UN Deputy Secretary-General, in the Foreword to the Guide:
The UN Natural Resource Mediation Guide represents "... an unprecedented, ambitious and long-awaited undertaking. ... [that] will become a vital reference for mediation practitioners and for all those who, more broadly, work to end conflict, secure peace, and build sustainable futures for the citizens of this planet."
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For any questions or R.S.V.P. requests regarding the event, please contact:
Jimmy Lou
EventĚýCoordinator
Institute for the Study of International Development
1-514-835-2829
events.isid [at] mcgill.ca
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