At a moment when conflicts around the world appear to be intensifying rather than easing, the practice of peacemaking faces new pressures and challenges. Drawing on more than 25 years of experience working in complex conflict settings, Paul Dziatkowiec will share perspectives from the field and reflect on what it takes to navigate fragile negotiations, de-escalate tensions, and open pathways toward dialogue in deeply divided environments. His remarks will explore how practitioners approach some of the world’s most difficult disputes and the lessons that can strengthen efforts toward lasting resolution.
At the same time, the conversation invites a more personal reflection. In an era when many of us find ourselves surrounded by familiar viewpoints, how do we avoid closing ourselves off from other perspectives? Having engaged audiences across the United States, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and Australia, Dziatkowiec will encourage participants to step outside their usual bubbles, engage across differences, and reflect together on the evolving challenges, and possibilities, of peacemaking today.
About the Speaker
Paul Dziatkowiec has spent 25 years in diplomacy and conflict mediation. Prior to his current role as Director of Mediation and Peace Support at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (since 2021), he managed various projects over a decade at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), an organization that mediates in armed conflicts. There he engaged in efforts to promote peace in Nigeria, Myanmar, Thailand and Ukraine among others, and ran the prestigious Oslo Forum for several years.
In his mediation and dialogue facilitation work, Paul has initiated and facilitated numerous confidential dialogue processes, including in the Ukraine-Russia context, the Caucasus, Middle East, Arctic, Asia and the US-China context.
Earlier Paul was an Australian diplomat for over a decade, including in Africa, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific. In his most recent posting in Nairobi, as Deputy and regularly Acting Ambassador he covered a range of countries including Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi. Concurrently, he was Australia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Nairobi.
Previously Paul was posted to the Australian Embassy in Tel Aviv, and acted periodically as Australian’s Representative to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah during the second intifada.
During his diplomatic career, Paul engaged in multilateral negotiations at the UN, in Geneva, New York, and Nairobi, which included negotiating resolutions and delivering statements on behalf of Australia on diverse issues.
Paul is also a Senior Adviser to the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Peace Dividend Initiative, an expert on UNDP’s crisis response roster, Fellow at the Oxford Global Society and World Academy of Art and Science, and member of Diplomats Without Borders and the Explorers Club. He has written on peacemaking in different regions, and delivered guest lectures on similar themes in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, North America, Europe and Australia.
EVENT DETAILS
- Check-in will begin at 5:30 PM with seating available on a first-come first-serve basis. The program will begin at 6:00 PM.
- Those with online reservations do not need to present ticket confirmation at the door, we will have all confirmed attendees on a list at check-in.
- Online registration closes at 6:00 PM on April 13 or when event sells out.
EVENT REGISTRATION