"Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something." Ambassador Jan Eliasson addressed students, faculty and visitors last Thursday night in the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Theater.
His lecture, "Armed Conflict: The Cost to Civilians," addressed the effects of war on a civilian population. He focused on the current crisis in the Sudan.
Eliasson's decorated career as an ambassador, diplomatic advisor and secretary general at the United Nations, have given him the opportunity to work in crisis areas worldwide as a mediator and humanitarian leader.
Eliasson began the lecture by posing a question to the sold-out crowd: "Does solidarity stop at a border or at human need?"
Eliasson addressed this question through his discussion on the rising rates of civilian casualties, and the responsibility of the world community to establish peace and protect innocence. The civilian casualty rate in wars and conflicts has continually increased over the past century.
In World War I civilians constituted 10 percent of casualties, in World War II this figure rose to 50 percent, and today the rate of civilian casualties ranges from 80 to 90 percent. This skyrocketing figure continues to grow due to the proliferation of weapons, outbreak of civil wars and the vulnerability of women and children.
Eliasson focused his discussion on the conflict in the Sudan, where over two million civilians have been displaced from their homes, a third of the country's population.
Throughout the lecture, Eliasson quoted the U.N. Charter, which he carries in his jacket pocket. He emphasized his confidence in the United Nations as a peacekeeper and mediatory group.
He discussed the responsibility a nation has to protect its citizens as well as the responsibility of the United Nations to step in if a ruler forfeits his or her duty, or exploits power.
The ambassador sent out a call for service to all of those in the theater, continually emphasizing the importance of the world's young people to work for social justice and humanitarian action.
The lecture came to a close with Eliasson sharing a personal motto, "The world is in need of two things: passion and compassion. Without passion nothing can happen, and without compassion the wrong things will happen"
The lecture was part of The Institute for Peace and Justice Distinguished Lecture Series. The IPJ offers international leaders, like Eliasson, the opportunity to come to USD and share their beliefs, humanitarian action and conflict resolution with the student body.
