Meet Benjamin Smith

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.