Hadja Lahbib
Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Foreign Trade and the Federal Cultural Institutions, Belgium
Biography
Hadja Lahbib is a Belgian Minister and also has over 25 years’ experience as a journalist presenting TV news and reporting internationally, including from conflict zones such as the Middle East. She also produced and directed documentaries, created programmes on society and culture, and was appointed to prepare Brussels' bid for the title of European Capital of Culture in 2030.
Organisation
SPF Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Foreign Trade
Member State authority
Speaker session
The session aims to identify the operational challenges faced by frontline humanitarian workers in better engaging on access, as exemplified by field experiences. It will also outline the advantages of a more systemic and structured approach to strengthening the capacity of country-level humanitarian leadership on access negotiations. The discussions will focus on joined-up approaches among humanitarian and political actors to strengthen the use of humanitarian diplomacy for access while ensuring respect for the humanitarian principles and encouraging States to fulfil their obligations under International Humanitarian Law. Furthermore, the session will analyse how to design humanitarian access strategies in a way that enable accountability to affected populations and facilitate the access of crisis-affected communities to protection services and support.
David Harland
Executive Director
Biography
Organisation
Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue
NGO
Speaker session
The session aims to identify the operational challenges faced by frontline humanitarian workers in better engaging on access, as exemplified by field experiences. It will also outline the advantages of a more systemic and structured approach to strengthening the capacity of country-level humanitarian leadership on access negotiations. The discussions will focus on joined-up approaches among humanitarian and political actors to strengthen the use of humanitarian diplomacy for access while ensuring respect for the humanitarian principles and encouraging States to fulfil their obligations under International Humanitarian Law. Furthermore, the session will analyse how to design humanitarian access strategies in a way that enable accountability to affected populations and facilitate the access of crisis-affected communities to protection services and support.
Diana Janse
State Secretary for International Developement Cooperation
Biography
Diana Janse is the Swedish State Secretary for International Development Cooperation. Before taking up this position, she was a Senior Fellow at the Stockholm Free World Forum (Frivärld) between 2021-2022. During her career as a diplomat, she has served in Afghanistan, Russia and in Foreign Minister Carl Bildt's cabinet. She has also served as ambassador to Mali (2019-2021) Georgia (2010-2014) and Lebanon/Syria (2014-2015). From 2015 to 2019, she was foreign policy advisor and international director at the Moderate Party. In 2010, her book "A Piece of My Heart I Leave Behind" was published about her experiences in Afghanistan. Ms. Janse holds two degrees from Uppsala University, a Masters in Political Science and a Bachelor in Russian Language and Literature.
Organisation
Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Member State authority
Speaker session
The session aims to identify the operational challenges faced by frontline humanitarian workers in better engaging on access, as exemplified by field experiences. It will also outline the advantages of a more systemic and structured approach to strengthening the capacity of country-level humanitarian leadership on access negotiations. The discussions will focus on joined-up approaches among humanitarian and political actors to strengthen the use of humanitarian diplomacy for access while ensuring respect for the humanitarian principles and encouraging States to fulfil their obligations under International Humanitarian Law. Furthermore, the session will analyse how to design humanitarian access strategies in a way that enable accountability to affected populations and facilitate the access of crisis-affected communities to protection services and support.