Post Date: April 19, 2005

International legal expert Rita E. Hauser will deliver an address titled "Is United Nations Reform Really Possible?" on Wednesday April 20 at 5 p.m. in Pound Hall 102. A former US Representative to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, Hauser is currently chair of the International Peace Academy and a member of the President's Intelligence Oversight Board. She is also a member of the Harvard Law School class of 1958.

"The UN is at a cross-roads," says Professor Bill Alford, HLS vice dean for international legal studies. "The real question is whether it can effectively restructure itself both to meet legitimate criticisms and to play a central role in addressing the defining problems of our lifetime."

Hauser's lecture comes at a time when the U.N. is facing unprecedented challenges to its authority and, in the words of Secretary General Kofi Annan, "a desire exists to make the most far reaching reforms in [its] history." Toward that end, Annan has issued a report calling for major changes in the Security Council, the Human Rights Commission and other UN bodies to better address the challenges of global poverty, mass violence, AIDS and terrorism.

"We are extraordinarily fortunate to have Rita Hauser here to address these questions," added Alford. "She has extensive experience at the highest levels of international affairs, an abiding commitment to international understanding and justice, and the keenest of lawyerly acumen."