Speaker: Pierre Hazan (Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue)

Organisers: Professor Louise Mallinder (Queen’s University Belfast) and Dr Julia Viebach (Queen’s University Belfast)

On 16 October 2024, Pierre Hazan shared insights from his recent book Negotiating with the Devil: Inside the World of Armed Conflict Mediation (Hurst, 2024) to provide insider reflections on the political and ethical ‘red lines’ that shape talks with armed interlocutors, be they states or insurgents.

This book draws on Pierre Hazan’s many years in the little-known world of back-channel mediation, helping sworn adversaries to prevent, manage or resolve conflict.  The Lecture explored in particular the acute practical and ethical dilemmas that affected his work in Bosnia, Ukraine, the Sahel and the Central African Republic.

Among the questions explored were: What is the mediator’s responsibility when two belligerents conclude a peace agreement to the detriment of a third? Should mediators never be party to ‘ethnic cleansing’, even if it saves lives? Is a fragile peace worth sacrificing justice for—or will that sacrifice fuel another cycle of violence?

This event was co-hosted with the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, the School of Law and the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work at Queen’s University Belfast.

Watch the event recording below: