Podcast appearances and mentions of Hugo Slim

In an early episode this year, Dr. Hugo Slim warned that he would challenge the most fundamental humanitarian principle: humanity. This week, he does just that. As a Senior Research Fellow at Oxford and a policy advisor specializing in the ethics of war and humanitarian aid, Hugo brings a unique philosophical lens to the conversation, drawing on his doctorate in theology.In this conversation, host Lars Peter challenges Hugo to assess the practicality and effectiveness of his landscape-based approach. Could it disrupt the established Western liberal framework of human rights—and might that disruption be exactly what we need to confront impending climate-related humanitarian crises?Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at trumanitarianpod@gmail.com

Hugo Slim is one of the best known and most interesting thinkers in the humanitarian space. He works at Univeristy of Oxford on the ethics and practice of humanitarian action and currently focus on answering the question “What is Climate Humanitarianism?” In this conversation with Lars Peter Nissen, Hugo discusses how we should define and prioritise humanitarian needs. The two papers that form the basis of the conversation can be found here:How should we define and prioritise humanitarian need?Painful Choices: How Humanitarians Can Prioritize in a World of Rising Need - A Conversation Starter for the Climate Emergency

Hugo Slim is one of the best known and most interesting thinkers in the humanitarian space. He works at Univeristy of Oxford on the ethics and practice of humanitarian action and currently focus on answering the question “What is Climate Humanitarianism?” In this conversation with Lars Peter Nissen, Hugo discusses how we should define and prioritise humanitarian needs. The two papers that form the basis of the conversation can be found here:How should we define and prioritise humanitarian need?Painful Choices: How Humanitarians Can Prioritize in a World of Rising Need - A Conversation Starter for the Climate Emergency

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Hugo Slim, Senior Research Fellow at the Las Casas Institute for Social Justice, Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford, on a wide range of topics. They discuss crises in Haiti, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, and the challenges in providing assistance to those countries. Hugo talks about how humanitarian aid has grown over the last several decades, describing the positives and negatives which have come from that growth. Jamie asks Hugo about the difficulty in speaking out as a humanitarian worker, when it could mean losing access to populations in need of help. Finally, the pair consider the ramifications climate change will have and how that will impact the humanitarian sector in the future.

Join us for another session of the Readings / Australian Red Cross Book Club on the laws and impact of war. In this session we are joined by Hugo Slim, to discuss his latest book, Solferino 21.

The New Humanitarian hosted a debate on media coverage of humanitarian crises and why Ukraine has dominated Western media since the start of the war. Speaking with four panelist, TNH CEO Heba Aly discussed why some crises get more attention than others and what that tells us about our inherent biases. Panel guests: Patrick Gathara, media critic; Hugo Slim, humanitarian ethicist; Mel Bunce, City, University of London; Mustafa Alio, managing director R-SEAT.

This year marks the 160th anniversary of the publication of Henri Dunant's classic text, ‘A Memory of Solferino', in 1862. Dunant's powerful book inspired the founding of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and the First Geneva Convention of 1864. In this post, Hugo Slim, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, reflects on changes in warfare and humanitarian aid since Dunant's legacy and makes three calls to action of his own.

Henry Dunant witnessed the horrors of the battle of Solferino in 1859. This gave birth to his vision for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the first Geneva Convention. But how relevant is his vision in the 21st century?Podcast host Imogen Foulkes is joined in this episode by humanitarian and international law experts.“Outer space, cyberspace and information space. Warfare is dramatically spreading across three new surfaces,” says Hugo Slim, a senior research fellow at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Solferino 21, a book on the changing face of war and humanitarian work.“The whole concept of humanitarianism, which was very religious at the time, has got to change, because the world has evolved since then,” says analyst Daniel Warner.Do the laws of war still work?“Instead of bringing help because of compassion, I think we should recognise that the victims of war have rights,” says Paola Gaeta, a professor of international law at the Graduate Institute in Geneva.

In the webinars 'The decolonization of aid' KUNO, Partos, and The Institute of Social Studies (ISS) take one step back and approach the discussion on the decolonization of aid in a series of talks. Step by step, we highlight an aspect of this debate. We ask two experts to engage in a conversation with one another to explore the controversies and perhaps find some common grounds.This fourth dialogue focusses on ethical and moral perspectives related to the decolonisation of aid with Aarathi Krishnan (Strategic Foresight Advisor at UNDP) and Hugo Slim (Senior Research Fellow at University of Oxford).The webinar is moderated by Kiza Magendane (The Broker).

In the webinars 'The decolonization of aid' KUNO, Partos, and The Institute of Social Studies (ISS) take one step back and approach the discussion on the decolonization of aid in a series of talks. Step by step, we highlight an aspect of this debate. We ask two experts to engage in a conversation with one another to explore the controversies and perhaps find some common grounds.This podcast is the recording of the opening statements of Aarathi Krishnan (Strategic Foresight Advisor at UNDP) and Hugo Slim (Senior Research Fellow at University of Oxford).The full webinar with Krishnan and Slim is available under the title Decolonisation of aid: Dialogue #4 - an ethical perspective (September 2021).

In the humanitarian sector, bureaucracy has been faulted for everything from ageism and the suppression of talent to a bloated and inefficient response, as examined by Hugo Slim on this blog last year. But when you examine three of the main issues currently plaguing the sector — sexual misconduct, corruption and fraud, and the politicization of resource allocation — the case for watering down humanitarian bureaucracy weakens, argue Dr. Aaron Clark-Ginsberg and Mary Kate Adgie, researchers at the nonprofit nonpartisan RAND Corporation. Instead, as they outline below, what might be needed is more bureaucracy, not less.

In this episode, Hugo Slim, Senior Research Fellow from the University of Oxford, discusses the art of humanitarian diplomacy and the history and experience of the ICRC. Hugo is known for a career in humanitarianism that has combined academia, operations, policy and diplomacy. Most recently, between 2015 and 2020, he was the Head of Policy and Humanitarian Diplomacy at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva. Listen to find out why developing a targeted policy for humanitarian diplomacy matters for a humanitarian organization, and what does it take to be a humanitarian diplomat.

What do current trends in armed conflict and military technology mean for the future of urban warfare? What are the future prospects for International Humanitarian Law in settings of urban warfare? What does this imply for the regulation of uses of explosive weapons in populated areas? These were the questions addressed in a recent virtual roundtable on the Protection of Civilians and the Future of Urban Warfare that was hosted by PRIO in collaboration with the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies and the Norwegian Red Cross. In this bonus episode of the podcast you can hear the conversation led by Kristoffer Lidén, Senior Researcher at PRIO, and featuring Hugo Slim, Wanda Muñoz, Radhya Al-Mutawakel, Abigail Watson, and Nicholas Marsh.

Hugo Slim is a leading authority on the ethics of war and humanitarian action with a career that combines academia, diplomacy and operations. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC) at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. He was Head of Policy and Humanitarian Diplomacy at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from 2015-2020 and Chief Scholar at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue from 2003-2007. From 1994-2003 he worked as a frontline humanitarian for Save the Children and the United Nations in Morocco, Sudan, Ethiopia and the Palestinian Territories. He is the author of 30 refereed journal papers and several books, including: Killing Civilians: Method, Madness and Morality in War (Hurst/OUP, 2007) and Humanitarian Ethics: A Guide to the Morality of Aid in War and Disaster (Hurst/OUP 2015). He speaks to us about human rights and human duties, humanitarian diplomacy, working in academia, moral dilemmas, protection of civilians, the Geneva Conventions, the importance of public deliberations, localizing aid, resilience and empowerment, ethical leadership, rich world vs whole world discussions, the COVID-19 pandemic and much more. He joins us from Oxford, UK.

An appealing, thoughtful and compact introduction into humanitarian ethics by Hugo Slim based on a Master Class organized by KUNO (the Platform for Humanitarian Knowledge Exchange in the Netherlands), and the Netherlands Red Cross (The Hague, January 2019).Dr. Hugo Slim is author of the book Humanitarian Ethics. A guide to morality of aid in war and disaster (2015). Slim has a combined career in the academic world and in humanitarian practice, and did work - amongst others - for Save the Children, United Nations, the University of Oxford. Nowadays Hugo Slim is Head of Policy of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The International Committee for the Red Cross/Red Crescent, otherwise known as the ICRC, is a singularly unique international organization. It was founded over 150 years ago to care for soldiers wounded in battle and has evolved substantially since then. Over the years, it has helped shape what is known today as International Humanitarian Law, which are the laws of war. This includes the Geneva Conventions in which the ICRC is specifically named.  Today, the ICRC works in conflict zones around the world providing on-the-ground medical relief and other services to protect the rights and welfare of civilians and combatants in conflict. It also conducts what my guest today, Hugo Slim, calls Humanitarian Diplomacy at the United Nations and in capitals around the world.   Slim is the policy director for ICRC and we discuss what Humanitarian Diplomacy entails, and have a broader conversation about the work of the ICRC around the world, including the distinct role it plays in interesting  international affairs.   

"I would say that the principle of humanity, and humanity in war even, is a global ethic. We can trace it through human history," says ICRC's Hugo Slim. Don't miss this in-depth discussion about the work of the Red Cross and its core humanitarian ethics as laid out in the Geneva Convention: humanity and compassion; the principal of a clear distinction between combatants and noncombatants; and proportionality in the weapons and the force used.

"I would say that the principle of humanity, and humanity in war even, is a global ethic. We can trace it through human history," says ICRC's Hugo Slim. Don't miss this in-depth discussion about the work of the Red Cross and its core humanitarian ethics as laid out in the Geneva Convention: humanity and compassion; the principal of a clear distinction between combatants and noncombatants; and proportionality in the weapons and the force used.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was formed in 1863 and its objectives have been to ensure protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict ever since. It's a story about the often challenging and sometimes controversial development of global humanitarian intervention, the Geneva Conventions and the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Bridget Kendall and guests Dr Hugo Slim, Professor Andrew Thompson, Caroline Morehead and Syrian Canadian aid worker Layal Horanieh will explore the story of the ICRC and the complex negotiations required to operate in conflicted parts of the World. Photo: An aircraft of the International Committee of the Red Cross (AFP/Getty Images)

In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, Sara Owens and Guest Host Trevor Keck sit down with ICRC in Washington's Policy Advisor Marcia Wong and Hugo Slim, Head of Policy. They discuss how humanitarian diplomacy helps catalyze ICRC's policy work, how the organization is using evidence, experience and expertise in moving the needle on policy and the recent urban warfare report that details what happens when cities fall apart because of conflict. Hosted by Sara Owens.

On 8 September, PHAP hosted the first of four discussion and consultation events on practical dilemmas of principled humanitarian action. The event began with a lecture on the topic by Dr Hugo Slim, Head of Policy at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). This was followed by a moderated discussion among a panel of experts, featuring Sir John Holmes, Director of the Ditchley Foundation and was previously the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator; Andy Hill, Civil-Military Adviser in the UK Department for International Development (DFID); and Karen Welsh, the founder and CEO of Blue Glass Development. The event provided the opportunity for participants to provide their perspectives on the topic discussed, through the live chat, through posing questions to the panelists, and through live pollsRead more at https://phap.org/8Sep2015

On 8 September, PHAP hosted the first of four discussion and consultation events on practical dilemmas of principled humanitarian action. The event began with a lecture on the topic by Dr Hugo Slim, Head of Policy at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). This was followed by a moderated discussion among a panel of experts, featuring Sir John Holmes, Director of the Ditchley Foundation and was previously the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator; Andy Hill, Civil-Military Adviser in the UK Department for International Development (DFID); and Karen Welsh, the founder and CEO of Blue Glass Development. The event provided the opportunity for participants to provide their perspectives on the topic discussed, through the live chat, through posing questions to the panelists, and through live pollsRead more at https://phap.org/8Sep2015

Main speaker: Dr Hugo Slim, Head of Policy at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)This learning session will provide a more in-depth treatment of the principle of humanity, focusing on practical dilemmas in its application. Directly following this learning session, a discussion and consultation event in support of the World Humanitarian Summit was organized on the same topic.Learning objectives- Understanding of the core humanitarian principle of humanity, both in its definition and its implementation.- Knowledge of examples of the practical implications of humanity in the course of humanitarian action.- Understanding of the nature of challenges and dilemmas involved in translating humanity into operations.- Familiarity with the role that humanity plays within the ICRC, and in their interactions with other actors.For more info, resources, and assessments for PHAP members, visit https://phap.org/OLS-HLP-7

Main speaker: Dr Hugo Slim, Head of Policy at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)This learning session will provide a more in-depth treatment of the principle of humanity, focusing on practical dilemmas in its application. Directly following this learning session, a discussion and consultation event in support of the World Humanitarian Summit was organized on the same topic.Learning objectives- Understanding of the core humanitarian principle of humanity, both in its definition and its implementation.- Knowledge of examples of the practical implications of humanity in the course of humanitarian action.- Understanding of the nature of challenges and dilemmas involved in translating humanity into operations.- Familiarity with the role that humanity plays within the ICRC, and in their interactions with other actors.For more info, resources, and assessments for PHAP members, visit https://phap.org/OLS-HLP-7

Alice Obrecht (One World Trust) and Philip Tamminga (DARA) give a talk for Oxford Humanitarian Group/ELAC seminar series. Introduced by Hugo Slim.

Jennifer Welsh and Hugo Slim from the Oxford Centre for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict discuss "The Responsibility to Protect" in contemporary international relations, and its role in key cases such as Libya and the post-election violence in Kenya.

Jennifer Welsh and Hugo Slim from the Oxford Centre for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict discuss "The Responsibility to Protect" in contemporary international relations, and its role in key cases such as Libya and the post-election violence in Kenya.

Dr Hugo Slim, Visiting Fellow in the department of politics and international relations, gives a talk for the 2011 Hilary term ELAC/CCW seminar series on armed conflict.