Kahane Report, 2021-22

William and Elizabeth Kahane United Nations Program at Occidental College Report of Academic Year

Us

The William and Elizabeth Kahane United Nations Program at Occidental College is a flagship program for Oxy, and one that uniquely pairs in-depth academics with real-world action. By providing students with access to a singular set of practical experiences and skills, our students are able to become better global citizens and to imaginatively approach and engage with myriad global perspectives. Such exposure to multiple intellectual, political, and cultural viewpoints is a vibrant embodiment of Occidental’s mission of teaching and learning, which prepares our students for an increasingly complex, interdependent, and pluralistic world.

Under Cynthia Rothschild’s dynamic leadership, we were thrilled to return to an in-person experience at the United Nations in New York during the Fall 2021 semester. Though the semester was not without its unexpected complications, our students more than met any challenge while conducting rigorous intellectual work in their internships and academic seminars. Our students continue to be entrusted with significant and meaningful responsibilities at their internship sites, a testament to the confidence and regard that our partners have for our students and their work.

In addition, the Kahane U.N. Program continues to connect its exploration of larger international policy themes and topics back to a larger group of students on Occidental’s campus through a robust slate of activities organized as part of U.N. Week. This year’s programming for U.N. Week centered around our theme of “Rights at Risk,” and featured a return to in-person events and speakers.

Such multifaceted opportunities continue to be available to our students through the generous support from William and Elizabeth Kahane for the Kahane United Nations Program Endowment and the Kahane Scholars Endowment. We thank you for your partnership as we collectively strive to immerse our students in transformative experiences that will allow them to become leaders who are committed to mutual respect, collective work, and change within our global community.

ELIZABETH KAHANE UNITED NATIONS PROGRAM AT OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE

Table of Contents

Foreword from Director Cynthia Rothschild 1 Year in Review by the Director 2 Summary Remarks from Laura Hebert 7

Foreword from the Director

Cynthia Rothschild Director, William and Elizabeth Kahane United Nations Program at Occidental College

The Kahane U.N. Program returned to an in-person format in 2021, and it was lovely to see (half of, given masks) students’ faces throughout the semester. After a flurry of activity – and COVID research – in the late summer, our meeting sites and the 92nd Street Y were cleared for our attendance and Oxy moved back in. Of course, there were obstacles and challenges throughout the semester, not least of which was the return, for all of us, to in-person experiences after having had a year and a half of suspension of regular social engagement and face-to-face contact.

Nevertheless, we persisted – and I believe the seventeen “Group of ’21” students from the 2021 Oxy Kahane U.N. Program had extraordinary experiences. I’m particularly pleased since this was literally the transition from the suspension of what we all knew as “normal life” to a “full-on back-in-the-saddle”

Oxy and Kahane U.N. Program experience. Our team, including students, was resilient. And, for the most part, we were fine. And even better than that.

Overall, we had a very stable and good semester. Students were extremely successful in their work. They shouldered immense responsibility, and they did so with grace and good cheer. As is often the case, they did a fair amount of meeting monitoring, including for General Assembly committees and the Security Council. Those students also followed government negotiations on policy resolutions quite closely.

Others contributed to “backbone projects” for U.N. agencies or non-governmental organizations (NGOs, and a new addition to the Program this year). Some of that work included researching and writing for publications, preparing for officials’ visits to New York, and the regular programming for these sites.

As for the academic component of the semester, the students’ coursework was strong, their writing and presentations creative, and their analytical growth through the semester undeniable. All these factors pushed the challenges into the background. So when the hurricane flooding hit the NYC subways and students couldn’t get to their sites, and a few weeks later, an armed man set up in front of the U.N., we took everything in stride and first made sure we all were OK – and then went about our business of the semester. Maybe most important here was the myriad ways the students expressed and showed care for one another, as there were many lovely gestures during the semester.

With an eye to the future, I’m thrilled to continue along this journey with the Oxy team. As I head into my second in-person experience with a NYC semester, I have a deeper sense of the strengths and challenges of the Program but also of its creative potential. I look forward to accessing more of that as this new iteration of the Program evolves. I do have an eye toward exploring the convening and advocacy possibilities for the Kahane U.N. Program, as well as deeper exposure to the U.N.’s presence in Geneva.

I remain so grateful for the steadfast support of the Kahanes and Oxy staff, faculty, and administration members.

Jacques Fomerand remains as co-Director extraordinaire. Robin Craggs and Marisa Grover Mofford (and their International Programs Office team), and Laura Hebert and Derek Shearer are all so very supportive in their mentorship (as are the other faculty within Diplomacy and World Affairs). Huge thanks to all of you.

Year in Review

Overall, the internships were highly successful. Students were given immense responsibility, functioning in many situations as full staff within their sites. For instance, at the Costa Rica mission, one student was given a maternity cover and literally took on that staff person’s role for a few months.

Hosts and supervisors remain thrilled to have Oxy support because our students function at such a high level. For better and worse, the students continue to perform with great professionalism, and supervisors see them as colleagues rather than undergraduate interns.

Nine of the seventeen students had a major focus on General Assembly and/or Security Council work. The remainder focused on other kinds of programming. One lesson here is for us to (continue to) ensure that we don’t overemphasize the GA work to the exclusion of all other projects.

New Developments

While the contours of the Kahane U.N. Program remained similar to those from the past, we did implement a few notable additions:

• NGOs: We added three non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to our internship roster this year, each of which does deep work on U.N.-related matters from a civil society entry point. The three NGOs were: OutRight Action International (which is concerned with sexuality and gender issues; the internship focused in large part on General Assembly and Security Council work, including support for a GA resolution on democracy and elections); Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC, which is a membership coalition based group that focuses on peacebuilding and security); and Religions for Peace (which focuses on constructive use of religion in diplomacy and faith leaders’ engagement in supporting human rights and anti-discrimination efforts).

• Orientation: At the beginning of the semester, and upon students’ arrival, we convened an intensive new orientation program that spanned six days and combined purposes and learning methodologies. Our focus was teambuilding, sharing information about the semester (including in relation to what to expect from internships, living in New York City, and health protocols), and building a comprehensive information base about the U.N. and the internships that would allow for immediate and deeper understanding and comfort.

• SIT addition: The major “systemic” change we implemented was the partnership with the School for International Training, with Lucas Shapiro as the New York point person. Lucas’ main responsibility was in his contributions to student health and safety. In addition to tracking student travel and COVID policy compliance, he ran excursions (including a food truck tour, a neighborhood scavenger hunt, and an Ellis Island visit), all of which helped create cohesiveness and warmth within the student group. His involvement was particularly valuable during a severe weather incident, and we did have one emergency situation (the armed man in front of the U.N.) in which his security plan was quite useful.

Internships

Seventeen students were placed at the following sites:

U.N. AGENCIES

STUDENTS

UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) Collin Nascimento Cheng Wang Aidan Garagic

UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) Stella Hong Stephanie Oyolu

UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund)

UNHCR (The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees)

U.N. WOMEN

UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East)

DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS

Ava Davis

Petra Jasper

Madeline Henry

Lauren El Kholy

STUDENTS

COSTA RICA Alejo Maggini

U.K. Aerex Narvasa Caroline Diamond Julia Eubanks Amirah Al-Sagr

HIGHLIGHTS

Support for work on a pioneering journal article on COVID and development in the esteemed British Medical Journal; this included data review of country criminalization laws and research on public health concerns such as the impact of tobacco policy on development.

Support for projects related to the impact that the COVID pandemic has had upon the mental health of young people in the global South and North; this involved data review and interviewing young people.

Contributed to a research project on the global crisis of femicide (killings of women).

Followed humanitarian and migration issues in various regions, including in Afghanistan; monitored Security Council on refugee concerns.

Support for the Civil Society Division and its work on women human-rights defenders as well as on general clampdowns on freedoms of assembly and speech.

Support for GA and Security Council monitoring; support for visit of Commissioner General.

HIGHLIGHTS

GA monitoring and participation as staff in government negotiations on various human rights issues.

Support for coordinating country mission’s engagement at the General Assembly. This included statement drafting and communications; intensive monitoring of and reporting on the Second (economics/finance), Third (human rights and social affairs), and Fifth Committees (U.N. budgets and resources); and monitoring of Security Council. Key issues included Afghanistan humanitarian issues and reprisals against those using the U.N. system to advance rights concerns.

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

OutRight Action International

GPPAC (Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict)

Religions for Peace

Courses/Academics

STUDENTS

Oli Vorster

Talia White

Zhuoheng Li

HIGHLIGHTS

Monitoring of GA, lobbying of mission staff in support of adding language on sexual orientation and gender identity in resolution on democracy and elections.

Support for peacebuilding membership coalition advocacy; monitoring of GA and research related to peace, conflict, and food insecurity.

Support for a conference of religious leaders on diplomacy and faith, and work supporting faith leaders in their U.N. anti-discrimination and environmental efforts.

In many ways, the courses continue to provide the glue for the semester and the internships. They offer context and space for students to learn about and better understand what they see and do during their time in New York, as well as the priorities of their hosts. The courses also help to provide a basis for students to think about the U.N. as a site of potential policy development supporting social change.

During the semester, there were no significant changes to DWA 401 and 402. We retained our focus on human rights in DWA 401 and on conflict, peace, and security (with a focus on “prevention”) in DWA 402. Jacques and I revised and will continue to revise our syllabi to keep our material fresh and engaging. During the semester, for instance, we each unexpectedly engaged with the evolving Afghanistan crisis and a clearer U.N. focus on “reprisals,” or punishment for civil society making demands of governments in U.N. environments.

• The prevention/conflict, peace, and security course (DWA 402) remains Jacques’ master class in U.N. engagement. The course combines conceptual and theoretical approaches to operational and structural conflict prevention and resolution, and uses case studies of recent or current conflicts. It also draws extensively from students’ experiences in their internships. It examines the U.N.’s collective capacity to prevent deadly conflict and weaves in cross-cutting issues such as gender, transnational organized crime, population and demographic pressures, the development-security nexus, climate change and migration, terrorism, and pandemics. A key feature of the course is its emphasis on student learning through lectures complemented by student-led simulations, small group discussions, occasional guest speakers, film streaming of archived U.N. web proceedings, and other creative engagement formats.

• The human rights class (DWA 401) retains a focus on using “unusual entry points” to look at broader geopolitical issues but does not function as a “human rights 101.” Among these entry points are gender and sexuality, racist policing, anti-human rights and anti-U.N. sentiment, right-wing extremism, crackdowns on freedoms of civic engagement, expression and assembly, and antagonism toward humanrights defenders. The course continues to use U.N. Human Rights Council discussions as a framework (including streams from discussions and negotiations from the Geneva proceedings) and as a teaching tool.

Guests

As in previous years, the Kahane U.N. Program welcomed thoughtful guests to our classes. A few were welcomed back with open arms because their presentations are so compelling. Among those who returned were: Elizabeth Edelstein, political affairs officer in the Office of the Under Secretary General for Political and Peace Building Affairs; Marina Kumskova and Madison Taggart (a former Kahane U.N. Program student!) of GPPAC; and Mariam Jalabi, representative of the Syrian Opposition Coalition to the U.N. and co-founder of the Syrian Women’s Political Movement. We also hosted:

• Naureen Shameem, formerly of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development

Naureen’s discussion focused on extremist and fundamentalist actors functioning within the U.N. system, and the growing anti-rights and anti-democracy movements in the global North and global South.

• Megan Doherty of Action Canada for Population and Development

Meg spoke of behind-the-scenes details in the life of a resolution within either the General Assembly or the Human Rights Council, and how challenging advocacy can be.

• Marisa Viana of the youth network, Realizing Sexual and Reproductive Justice Alliance (RESURJ)

Marisa discussed strategic engagement in the U.N. toward strengthening the rights of young people and the importance of cross-regional coalition building.

• Purnaka De Silva, a professor and independent advocate with specific expertise in Sri Lanka

Purnaka spoke of his long time engagement in pro-democracy resistance movements there.

Other Visits

We also hosted a warm and provocative evening visit from the inestimable Bill Kahane! Bill shared details of his own trajectory and career and guided a dynamic conversation with our group.

During the latter part of the semester, President Harry J. Elam, Jr. and Dean Wendy Sternberg visited the students in New York. During Harry and Wendy’s visit to NYC, they met with Kahane U.N. Program students on a Friday morning at the Church Center for a discussion about their internships. The following day, Oxy hosted an informal luncheon at a hotel; it was a lovely event. Bill and Elizabeth Kahane attended, as did Harry and his wife Michele. In addition, Bill and Elizabeth generously welcomed the Kahane Scholars (five students within the Kahane U.N. Program) to their home for a delicious dinner, for which we all remain grateful.

KAHANE UNITED NATIONS PROGRAM AT OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE

U.N. Week

As Laura Hebert notes elsewhere in this report, U.N. Week returned live to the Oxy campus in April 2022, despite it being a slight misnomer in terms of time frame. We opened the programming with a remote cross-regional event that focused on disability, advocacy, and human rights. Speakers were based in Kenya, Colombia, Guatemala, and in the U.N. system. Jacques and I went to Los Angeles soon after for my inaugural trip to Oxy as director of the Kahane U.N. Program. He and I each offered an open talk for campus; Jacques’ focused on developments in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, and mine looked at a few “controversial” human rights issues within the U.N. Coincidentally, this took place on the day Russia was suspended from the Human Rights Council, which made for a rich conversation (again, see Laura’s entry for more specific detail).

Our main draw was Stéphane Dujarric, the media spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. Stéphane shared wisdom and stories based on his many years behind the scenes in a number of talks with students, including an intimate discussion with the 2021 Kahane U.N. Program cohort and the 2022 incoming group.

On a personal note, it was wonderful to be on campus and to have the opportunity to meet and spend time with the people who have provided so much support to the Kahane U.N. Program. And, of course, it was just lovely to see the students Jacques and I had spent so much time with a few months before, and to get a sense of the incoming students we’ll work with in the coming months.

Looking Ahead

In last year’s report, I added the following text – and I include this again as a reminder of what we are trying to achieve and also to show that we are on track in implementing these shifts.

The Program will strengthen its human rights core alongside other established priorities (conflict/peace/ security and development). The public narrative of the Kahane U.N. Program will offer more emphasis on human rights and social justice, as well as on the humility and responsibility required to ethically engage in U.N. spaces and geopolitics. One goal here is to promote a particular purpose of the Program: for students to contribute to (and study) multilateralism and the U.N. system in order to be better global citizens, to be less U.S.-centric in thinking and in policy development, and to understand ourselves and the U.S. government as part of global systems that benefit some but not others. A related objective is to use the U.N. system to create and be effective agents of change.

Summary Remarks

Laura Hebert Kahane U.N. Program at Occidental College Committee Co-Chair

The William and Elizabeth Kahane United Nations Program Endowment offers Occidental College a unique opportunity to generate cross-disciplinary conversations on our campus about the significance of U.N. ideas, norms, and values for the Oxy and Los Angeles communities. Traditionally, most of our on-campus Kahane U.N. Program activities have been held during our annual event-packed U.N. Week. Although the spike in COVID infections in early 2022 required that adjustments be made to our programming, our modified U.N. Week featured timely and thought-provoking events that benefited considerably from the collaborative relationship that exists between Diplomacy and World Affairs faculty and the New York-based team.

Our programming, centered on the theme of “Rights at Risk,” kicked off with an exceptional Zoom panel discussion on March 31 on the topic of “Disability, Advocacy, and Rights.” Moderated by Cynthia Rothschild, the panel brought together an accomplished and diverse group of rights advocates: Silvia Quan, a Guatemala-based feminist disability rights activist who has been a global leader in this area, including through her role on the U.N. Committee on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities; Felicia Mburu, a Kenya-based lawyer and activist who, among other activities, has focused on disability advocacy within the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights; Will Pons, senior legal advisor to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities; and Andrea Parra, a Colombia-based expert in disability and human rights and a feminist legal activist. The event not only brought visibility to a topic that is too often overlooked at Oxy and in the human rights community more generally, it also underscored how essential bottom-up advocacy around the world is to the establishment of international human rights standards and the relevance of these standards for social change efforts at the domestic level.

After a two-year suspension, we were thrilled to be able to return to in-person events in April. We were also excited to welcome Cynthia to campus for the first time as the Kahane U.N. Program director and to invite Jacques Fomerand back to campus after far too many years. Their time on campus coincided with the two-day campus visit of Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for Secretary-General António Guterres (and Secretary-Generals Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon before him). Dujarric is a longtime friend of the Program and he once again proved generous with his time, including during lunches with Oxy students and faculty that allowed for more personal conversations about his long career at the U.N. The highlight of his visit, however, was a campuswide off-therecord event held on April 4 that was titled “Everything You Wanted to Know About the United Nations in the Midst of Global Crises.” Mr. Dujarric’s talk offered well-timed and invaluable insights into the unprecedented challenge Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has posed to U.N. authority and capacity, already severely stressed by the ongoing pandemic.

On April 6, Cynthia and Jacques moderated an event that featured Fall 2021 semester Kahane U.N. Program participants, titled “Oxy at the U.N.: Learning, Relearning, UNLearning,” which offered our students the opportunity to share their experiences of taking U.N.-related courses while in New York and of interning with U.N. missions, agencies, and NGOs. We capped off our U.N. Week with two events on April 7 that featured the expertise of the dynamic leaders of the Kahane U.N. Program. Jacques’ talk, titled “Ukraine Crisis: Whither the U.N.?,” focused on his decades of experience of working within the U.N. and studying human rights and conflict situations. Cynthia’s talk, titled “Too Hot to Handle? The U.N., Human Rights, and Movement Politics,” centered on the opportunities and challenges human rights advocates face when seeking to shape U.N. policies, standards, and practices. Both talks wonderfully complemented the earlier events and reaffirmed just how fortunate we are to have Cynthia and Jacques at the helm of the Kahane U.N. Program.

I WILLIAM AND ELIZABETH KAHANE UNITED NATIONS PROGRAM AT OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE