Seminar Is Rare Opportunity

victoria-university-of-wellington

Thu Oct 11 2007 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Seminar Is Rare Opportunity

Thursday, 11 October 2007, 12:39 am
Press Release: Victoria University of Wellington

Senior New Zealander in the United Nations, Ross Mountain, is to address a Wellington branch meeting of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs at 12.30 today.

Ross Mountain represents the UN Secretary-General in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Brian Lynch, Director of the NZ Institute of International Affairs, says the seminar is a rare opportunity for a New Zealand audience to get a close-up view of the travails of this troubled continent and its formidable challenges, from a uniquely well-qualified source.

In lecture theatre 3 at Rutherford House on the Pipitea Campus, the lecture will focus on “International Peace and Reconstruction, Dealing with the Causes and Consequences of Human Conflict”.

He will reflect on experience of life on the frontline, looking for lessons from the Congo (DRC) and other trouble spots in which he has served.

Ross is described by Brian Lynch as “the latest in an impressive line of New Zealanders who have made a distinguished contribution to the work of the international civil service, and of whom their country of birth can be duly proud.”

In pursuit of that career Ross has made one after another temporary ‘home’ in a succession of global ‘hot spots’, which normal security-conscious human beings would do their level best to dodge - the most recent assignment being the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This duty followed assignments in locations as diverse and distant from each other as Angola, Afghanistan, the Caribbean, Liberia, Mozambique and the Middle East as well as Fiji and East Timor.

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Brian Lynch says the one common factor in those assignments was that they were at the site of unrest and humanitarian distress; much of it not occasional but pervasive and endemic.

“In a career exceeding 35 years Ross has acquired unmatched experience in dealing with the causes and consequences of human conflict. He has shown exemplary skill, courage and deep personal commitment in addressing the aftermath of awful events. At all times and often against the odds, he has displayed compassion, generosity of spirit and quiet good humour. His leadership and formidable organisational talents have been appropriately recognised, by being given progressively more senior levels of management responsibility in relevant United Nations aid and relief agencies” says Brian Lynch.

Ross Mountain will be in Wellington next Tuesday, until Sunday, and on Thursday evening will receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from Victoria University of Wellington.

He will also meet Parliamentarians, media and people in other circles during his visit.

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