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Benjamin Smith

Mediation Advisor with the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD)

Vereinigtes Königreich

Ben is a Mediation Advisor with the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), where he provides strategic, substantive and technical advice to mediators and conflict parties. He also heads a programme looking at the intersection between Crime and Peacemaking. Before this, he headed up HD’s mediation support, learning, and guidance work. Prior to joining HD, Ben worked with the United Nations (UN) for thirteen years, specializing in mediation / political affairs, the security sector, peacekeeping and transnational crime. He was based with the UN in several countries, including Nepal, South Sudan, Thailand, and Timor-Leste. Most recently, he was head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s programme to combat human trafficking and migrant smuggling in SE Asia and the Pacific. Prior to that, he was the Africa Team Leader for the UN Mediation Support Unit, where he also acted as the departmental lead on ceasefires and security arrangements. He was also the Officer-in-Charge of the SSR Sections in the UN Mission in South Sudan and the UN Mission in Nepal. At the start of his UN-related career, Ben negotiated UN General Assembly resolutions on behalf of the EU and the UK Government. Ben is a member of the UN High-Level Expert Group on Transnational Crime, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime Network of Experts, and the Centre on Armed Group’s Network of Experts. He holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a Master’s degree in Modern History and Modern Languages from the University of Oxford.
Starts 5 Jun 2025
16:00
CET
Led by Benjamin Smith
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What happens when the people holding the guns aren’t fighting for a cause, but for cash? Around the world, criminal armed groups and networks are controlling neighbourhoods, fuelling violence, and corrupting governments. They’re not always at the peace table, but they often have the power to sabotage it. Can we talk to them? Should we? And if we do—how?

This webinar explores what happens when the worlds of mediation and organised crime collide. Drawing on real-world examples from Latin America to West Africa we’ll look at how mediators are beginning to engage with criminalised armed actors, sometimes successfully reducing violence or opening up unexpected paths to peace. We’ll explore how dialogue, negotiation, and trust-building can still have a place, even when the actors involved don’t fit our traditional ideas of legitimacy or peacebuilding – and what the rest of the world of peacemaking can learn from negotiating with criminal groups.

This session is for anyone curious about what it means to work on the frontier of mediation and conflict resolution. Whether you’re a professional mediator, a student of peace, or simply intrigued by the big, messy questions of our time, join us to explore how we might rethink the limits of negotiation, and what it takes to build peace in a world where crime and conflict are increasingly entangled.

Ausgewählte IM Campus-Mitarbeiter

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Nigeria
Dr. Adeyemi Agbelusi ist Principal Partner bei Berean Associates und befasst sich mit der Beilegung von Streitigkeiten in ganz Nigeria und anderen Ländern.
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Israel
Ran ist außerordentlicher Professor für Streitbeilegung (Expert Track) an der Universität Haifa, wo er im Rahmen des internationalen Graduiertenprogramms für Friedens- und Konfliktmanagementstudien unterrichtet.
Flagge von Singapur
Singapur
Ye-Min Wu verfügt über mehr als 15 Jahre Erfahrung als Diplomat und hat Singapur bei den Vereinten Nationen (UN), der Weltorganisation für geistiges Eigentum (WIPO), dem Rahmenübereinkommen der Vereinten Nationen über Klimaänderungen (UNFCCC) und der Welthandelsorganisation (WTO) vertreten.
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Deutschland
She founded Consensus Group a German well known service provider for mediation in 2014 and in line with that later the International Campus.
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Vereinigtes Königreich
Ian joined the British Army in 1980 and spent 37 years in uniform, retiring in 2017. He spent most of his service in the Brigade of Gurkhas, including Commanding a Gurkha Infantry Battalion, as well as in operational staff roles at every level of Command, National, Coalition and Multinational. He has served on operations on the Hong Kong-Sino Border, the Falkland Islands (post-conflict), Northern Ireland, Belize, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq.

He was the Regional Security Sector Advisor for the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue Asia Regional Office and Myanmar Team from 10 July 2017 to 1st April 2022 working on the Myanmar Peace Process, engaging with multiple actors. He then became the Regional Advisor for HD Asia-Pacific, coordinating, mediating and facilitating specific projects on Humanitarian access and human security (particularly Myanmar), but also supporting HD’s wider efforts in South East Asia, including Thailand, Bangladesh and the Philippines, as well as providing security sector advice to HD’s team globally as required. He has taught mediation and negotiation and facilitated multiple dialogues during the last 7 years plus to many conflict parties throughout South East Asia and further afield, with another 15 years negotiation and mediation practical and teaching experience in the UK Armed Forces prior to that.

He holds Master’s Degrees in Defence Studies from King’s College, London (1995), and Strategic Studies from the US Army War College (2008). He is a member, facilitator and mentor for the Centre of Competence for Humanitarian Negotiation (CCHN), which is based in Geneva. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.