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TITLE: Gen. Wesley Clark and Sadako Ogata : Refugee Crises of the 1990s
SPEAKER: Sadako Ogata, Gen. Wesley Clark
EVENT DATE: 03/08/2005
RUNNING TIME: 42 minutes
DESCRIPTION:
Gen. Wesley Clark, Sadako Ogata and Dana Priest, who covers the intelligence community for The Washington Post, discussed the refugee crises of the 1990s on March 8, 2005. In her recently published book, "The Turbulent Decade: Confronting the Refugee Crises of the 1990s," Ogata recounts her experiences and the lessons she learned as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 1990 to 2000. Ogata and Clark discussed some of the challenges that humanitarian aid workers faced during the refugee crises of the 1990s, focusing on relief efforts in several regions, including the Balkans and Afghanistan. Priest, who used to report on the U.S. military for The Washington Post (now she covers national security) moderated the discussions.
Speaker Biography: Sadako Ogata assumed office as one of the cochairs of the Commission on Human Security on June 1 2001, with Professor Amartya Sen. While operating in New York, she was also appointed as the Special Representative of Prime Minister of Japan on Afghanistan Assistance in November 2001. She served as cochair at the International Conference on Reconstruction Assistance to Afghanistan on January 21-22, 2002 in Tokyo, Japan. Also, Ogata is a Scholar in Residence, The Ford Foundation since May 1, 2001. Ogata served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 1991 to 2000. She was elected to this post by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1990 for three years starting January 1, 1991. She was reelected in 1993 for a further period of five years (January 1994 to December 1998) and was reelected for a further period of two years (January 1999 to December 2000). Before her career as UNHCR, she was the Independent Expert of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on the Human Rights Situation in Myanmar in 1990. From 1982 to 1985, she was also Representative of Japan on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Also during 1978 and 1979, Ogata was Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations having served as Minister there from 1976 to 1978. Ogata has also been a prominent academic figure. She was Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Studies at Sophia University in Tokyo from 1989. Prior to that (1987-1988), she was Director of the Institute of International Relations at the same university, and Professor from 1980. From 1974 to 1976, she served as Associate Professor, Diplomatic History and International Relations at the International Christian University in Tokyo, while from 1965 to 1974 she lectured in International Relations at the International Christian University and at the University of the Sacred Heart also in Tokyo. She received a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1963, a master's in International Relations from Georgetown University in Washington D.C. in 1953 and a bachelor's from the University of the Sacred Heart in Tokyo in 1951. Ogata was born on September 16, 1927, in Tokyo. She is married and has a son and a daughter.
Speaker Biography: Gen. Wesley Clark was Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, from 1997-2000, and a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in 2004.