HDI’s “U.N. To D.C.” Program: U.N. Assistant Secretary General Robert Orr Briefs Congressional Staffers

 

April 24, 2008

The Humpty Dumpty Institute arranged for United Nations Assistant Secretary General Robert Orr  to brief Congressional staffers and to meet with Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-MA),  Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on April 23, 2008.  Dr. Orr works directly in the U.N. Secretary General’s office and is in charge of policy and planning for the United Nations.  Previously, Dr. Orr served as the Executive Director of the Belfer Center for Science and international Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.  From 1996 to 2001, ASG Orr served in senior posts in the U.S. Government including Deputy to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

In his briefing to the Congressional staffers, ASG Orr focused on two topics:

• the work the United Nations is doing to break the chain of terrorism and to ensure civilian victims have a platform for advocacy;

• the worldwide threat of climate change;

 

Dr. Orr stressed that the current global negotiations on climate change are among the most complex in diplomatic history.  He detailed how individual attitudes must be changed and how national economies need to be restructured.  One avenue is to incentivize the private sector and to ensure that business, governments, and individuals are working together.

In Dr. Orr’s meeting with HDI Congressional Advisory Board member Bill Delahunt discussions centered on current United Nations work in Iraq and Darfur. 

 

To learn more about this program and HDI, please contact

jonathan.landesman@thehdi.org.

HDI’s “U.N. to D.C.” program is supported by the United Nations Foundation.