Jan Kellett
Jan Kellett was born in Northern Ireland and brought up in Wales. He has just completed eight years with the Unitd Nations, working in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Indian Kashmir, Macedonia, Bangladesh, South Sudan, almost always post-conflict or post-disaster, the long days waiting behind checkpoints on the way to Belfast airport finally proving an invaluable lesson in patience and reminding him always to pack the travel scrabble. The last three years were spent almost exclusively on coordination of the U.N. itself post-crisis.
Darfur: A humanitarian compromise too far?
This is a blog in three parts. Here's the first. See evil, hear evil, speak no evil A few years ago, in South Sudan, there was a conversation between United Nations staff about the possibility of being thrown out of the country. It wasn't about how terrible that might be, how it would bring an abrupt and violent end to work in progress, but rather how wonderful. ...
Life without George W: Enter Globama
This is Part Two of a look at how the change in U.S. administration will impact global humanitarian issues. See Life without George W: Humanitarian wars. So far, U.S. President Barack Obama has said, and repeatedly said, all the right things. Even though he is a politician, many have taken him at his word. I guess this is what they call hope. ...
Life without George W: Humanitarian wars
George Walker Bush has gone. We have said our goodbyes. Some have uttered more colourful words. The war, his "war on terror" that defined his term in office, has left a trail of disaster: the deaths of more than 100,000 civilians; the abuses of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib; the pummelling of critics by means legal or otherwise; the clumsy dividing of the world into supporters and enemies; and the management of Iraq, undertaken with all the skill of a drunken ex-boxer doing intricate embroidery (yes, with his gloves still on). In international aid, however, the United States remains the largest donor country ($21.7 billion in 2007). So perhaps that shows that despite the war, the U.S. under Bush remained the country the world could turn to for humanitarian aid and guidance. ...
Moon G8 report on climate change, 2050
18 July, 2050 Wrapping up their first summit on the Moon, G8 leaders have strongly denied they failed to match the vision of a 2008 summit at which the world's eight strongest economies of the day promised to cut greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2050. A spokesman for the G8 (which really should be called the G10, ever since China and India were allowed to join last year, a decision long delayed despite their both having stronger economies than the other G8 members combined) poured scorn on the notion that the 2008 agreement was actually a promise that G8 members committed themselves and their countries to. ...
