The aim of the 2011 Colloquium is to bring together key British and Canadian policy-makers, opinion-leaders, commentators, and implementers of policy to share experience, debate fundamental issues, and incorporate scholarly thinking into operational decision-making, so as to finish the two-day meeting with greater clarity and a variety of practical suggestions concerning humanitarian responses and international engagement in fragile states.
Britain and Canada have already been working together effectively over many years to promote good governance and stability in developing countries, to relieve suffering and to reduce poverty by assisting economic development. However, the countries where effective action has proved most difficult are those which have fragile states, even sometimes “failed” ones. The weakness of state structures can be the major problem in a country, or a symptom of other deeper problems. The most recent example where Britain and Canada have provided both military and civilian resources to help create stability and encourage development is Afghanistan. The most recent British example of an intervention predominantly by one of the two countries alone is Sierra Leone, while Canada has been the second largest bilateral donor in Haiti for many years and played a crucial role after the 2010 earthquake.
The Colloquium will have two distinctly different points of focus, both highly relevant to fragile states. The first relates to the justification and implementation of humanitarian response, for instance under the second pillar of R2P, and the second to humanitarian response after natural disasters, including possibilities for better preparedness and prevention of loss of life. In some cases words and diplomacy are not enough. So the Colloquium will also discuss security aspects of humanitarian response, as has proved of vital importance in Haiti and Sudan.
Though Colloquium participants will doubtless draw on all relevant national and international experience, the main focus will be on Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, and Haiti, all important countries for British and Canadian humanitarian involvement or consideration. A detailed discussion of lessons to be learned from the Afghan experience, to take place separately between the end of Session 4 and the start of the Friday evening reception on the lines of the successful Canadian model at Iqaluit in 2010, will allow for the geographical focus to be further tightened.
Read the detailed session summaries.