Program: Symposium on National Reconciliation in South Sudan, Fordham Univ, April 5th

and#65532;Department of African and African American Studies at Fordham University
West African Adinkra symbol of life-long education and continued quest for knowledge.
Breakfast 9:00am—9:55am
Opening Remarks: 10:00am—10:10am Dr. Amir Idris
Session (1) 10: 15am—11:30am Human Rights and Citizens’ perspectives
Chair: Dr. Amir Idris
Mr. Edmund Yakani, Community Empowerment for Progress, Findings of Citizens’ Perspectives Survey on National Reconciliation and Healing Process
Ms. Jehanne Henry, Human Rights Watch, South Sudan's Human Rights Crisis
Lunch 11:30am—12:30pm
Session (2) 12:35pm—1:50pm Political Reform, Civil Society, and National Reconciliation Chair: Dr. Irma Watkins-Owens
Ms. Sarah Cleto Rial, Sister’s Keeper, Strengthening the Role of Women in Peacebuilding and Reconciliation in South Sudan
Dr. Amir Idris, Fordham University, Does South Sudan possess the leadership to resolve the conflict? Can a power sharing agreement end the conflict and lead to national reconciliation?
Coffee Break 1:55pm—2:05pm
Session (3) 2:10pm—3:25pm Challenges and Opportunities for Reconciliation Chair: Dr. Alexander van Tulleken
Dr. David Bassiouni, The United Nations, The Challenges and Opportunities for Reconciliation in the South Sudan Crisis
Dr. Jok Madut Jok, Loyola Marymount and Sudd Institute, South Sudan's Justice System and the Challenges of Peace and Reconciliation.
Speakers’ Bios
Edmund Yakani is South Sudan Human Rights Activist since 2000. He is working as Executive Director of Community Em- powerment For Progress Organization-CEPO. He conducted number of conflict and peace researches in South Sudan since 2005. He is well known as community peace mediator among communities of South Sudan since 2005. He is currently the Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress in South Sudan.
Jehanne Henry is a senior researcher in Human Rights Watch’s Africa division. She supervises and contributes to the work on Sudan, South Sudan, and Kenya. She has worked with the organization since 2008 focusing initially on the conflict in Dar- fur, then on a range of other issues in Sudan and South Sudan. Prior to joining the organization, she served as a human rights officer with the United Nations Mission in Sudan based in North Darfur. She has worked on human rights and rule of law is- sues with USAID in Cambodia and as a legal adviser in the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, and managed a legal aid pro- gram with the American Refugee Committee in Kosovo. Henry has also worked in the Office of the Prosecutor at the Interna- tional Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, and clerked for a U.S. federal judge in New York. She is admitted to the New York state bar.
Sarah Cleto Rial has been an advocate of women’s rights for more than twenty years and active in promoting women’s lead- ership. Sarah is a native of southern Sudan, who directs My Sister’s Keeper’s programs on girls’ education and women’s. She is also the co-founder and president of Global Partnership for Peace in South Sudan, a non-profit organization founded exclu- sively for the purpose of engaging the South Sudanese communities across the globe to work collectively for dialogue, lasting peace, social justice, and gender equality. Sarah currently holds executive office positions at the Ibrahim El-Hefni Educational Foundation that provides hands-on educational experience for school children and teacher professional development program, and at the School of Leadership, Afghanistan (SOLA), educating the next generation of Afghan female leaders. Sarah holds a BSc. Degree in Statistics and Demography from Juba University, Sudan, an MA in Political Science – Professional Develop- ment from American University in Cairo, Egypt, and a Graduate Certificate on Program for Women in Politics and Public Policy from University of Massachusetts, USA. She was the recipient of the 2010 Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights.
Amir Idris is Chair of the Department of African and African American Studies and Professor of African History and Poli- tics. Dr. Idris was born and raised in Sudan and educated in Sudan, Egypt, and Canada. He received his Ph.D. in African His- tory from Queen's University, Canada, in 2000. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of African Studies, Columbia University, New York City (2000-2001). His teaching and research interests focus on the history and politics of colonialism, on slavery and race, and on postcolonial citizenship in Northeast and Central Africa. Among his recent publications include Identity, Citizenship, and Violence in Two Sudans: Re-imagining a common Future (2013), Conflict and Politics of Identity in Sudan (2005), and Sudan's Civil Wars: Slavery, Race, and Formational Identities (2001), and he has also published numerous book chapters.
David S. Bassiouni is an international civil servant and career diplomat, Dr. Bassiouni has served in the United Nations sys- tem for over twenty six years, primarily working with UNICEF, DHA, OCHA and UNDGO. He held several senior positions including Deputy Director for UNICEF’s Office for Emergency Programmes, Chief of the Interagency and Response Branch- es in the Department of Humanitarian Affairs and the Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (DHA/OCHA) and Co- ordinator for the Inter-Agency Standing Committee and the Executive Committee for Humanitarian Affairs (IASC/ECHA). Dr. Bassiouni also marked an important milestone in UN history by becoming the first-ever and only UN Humanitarian Coor- dinator to be directly appointed by the Secretary-General and the Security Council. He also served as the UNICEF Repre- sentative in seven countries including Somalia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Ethiopia, the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Egypt and Bangladesh. Dr.Bassiouni is currently the Chairman and CEO of The Bassiouni Group, a New York based interna- tional consultancy, trade and investment firm.
Jok Madut Jok is professor of African Studies at Loyola Marymount University and co-founder of the Sudd Institute, a poli- cy research center based in Juba, South Sudan. Jok is trained in the anthropology of health and holds a Ph.D. from University of California, Los Angeles. He was undersecretary in the ministry of culture of the Republic of South Sudan and a fellow of Rift Valley Institute. He is the author of numerous books and scholarly articles and is currently completing a book with the working title South Sudan and the Burden of Independence.