Setting the Stage

Irina Bokova
Director-General of UNESCO

Irina Bokova became Director-General of UNESCO in November 2009. Prior to this position, Ms. Bokova was Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria to France and Monaco, Personal Representative of the Bulgarian President to the "Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie" and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO from 2005 to 2009.

Born in 1952, she obtained an MBA from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and studied at the universities of Maryland and Harvard in the USA. During her long and distinguished career, she also served as Bulgaria's representative to the United Nations and as her country's Secretary of State for European integration and Foreign Minister. Ms Bokova has long promoted the transition to European integration. As Founder and Chairperson of the European Policy Forum, she worked to overcome divisions in Europe and promote the values of dialogue, diversity, human dignity and rights.

 

Anthony Lake
Executive Director of UNICEF (tbc)

On 1 May 2010, Anthony Lake became the sixth Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund, bringing to the position more than 45 years of public service.

During his career, Anthony Lake has worked with leaders and policy makers across the world. In 2007-2008, he served as a senior foreign policy adviser to the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, a role he also performed during the Clinton presidential campaign of 1991-1992. He has managed a full range of foreign policy, national security, humanitarian and development issues at the most senior levels: as National Security Advisor (1993-1997) under President Bill Clinton, and as Director of Policy Planning in President Carter’s administration (1977-1981). He joined the US State Department in 1962 as a Foreign Service Officer. More…

 

Debate

Moderator

Imogen Foulkes
BBC Correspondent, Geneva

Imogen Foulkes has been the BBC’s Correspondent in Geneva since 2004. Prior to that she worked for Swiss Radio International, and for Scottish Television. She has travelled widely as part of her work, and has reported on a variety of humanitarian crises and post-conflict situations, such as Bosnia, Kosovo, South Ossetia, Kyrgyzstan, and Haiti. She lives in the Swiss capital Berne, and is married with two children.

 

 

 

 

 

Speakers

Asma Jahangir
Laureate of 2010/UNESCO Bilbao Prize
President of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan

Asma Jahangir is a lawyer, advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan. She is a founding member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and has served as Secretary-General and later Chairperson of the organization. Asma Jahangir has dedicated her life to the defense of human rights and upholding constitutional law. She works both in Pakistan and internationally to prevent the persecution of religious minorities, women, and exploitation of children. More on Asma Jahangir…

 

 

 

 

Tove R. Wang
Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children Norway
Chair of the Rewrite the Future Campaign

Tove R. Wang is CEO of Save the Children Norway and Chair of International Save the Children’s first global campaign, Rewrite the Future, which focuses on education for children affected by armed conflict. She has 30 years of experience in international development, with broad experience in the areas of leadership, organizational development, strategic planning and child rights programming, including 10 years of field work in Yemen, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. She holds a Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University.

 

Mamadou Diouf
Leitner Family Professor of African Studies
Director of Institute for African Studies, Columbia University

Mamadou Diouf is Leitner Family Professor of African Studies. He leads Columbia University’s Institute of African Studies at the School of International and Public Affairs. Educated primarily in France, Diouf is a renowned West African scholar who has taught in his native Senegal at the University Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar and guest-lectured at many European and American universities. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Paris-Sorbonne (France). More…