Gustavus Adolphus College’s annual Wallenberg Memorial lecture will feature Hugh Q. Parmer, who will present a lecture on the “Humanitarian Crisis in Darfur: Perspectives from the Field.”
Parmer’s lecture is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 26 in the Wallenberg Auditorium, located in Gustavus’ Nobel Hall of Science. The event is free and open to the public.
Darfur, a province of Sudan, is known for the humanitarian crises linked to a civil war that ensued in February 2003. Experts estimate that rape, murder, and pillage in the Darfur region has resulted in the deaths of an estimated 200,000 people in the past three and a half years. Though peace talks continue, an accord signed in May 2006 has failed to alleviate the tensions. The continued violence has caused humanitarian efforts to slow down; thus increasing the need of an estimated 2.5 million refugees.
Appointed by President Clinton, Parmer led major humanitarian relief operations during the war in Kosovo, Hurricane Mitch in Honduras and Nicaragua, and famine in Ethiopia and Eritrea. He is also a former president pro tem, majority leader, and member of the Texas State Senate; thus distinguishing himself as an expert on both the social and political aspects of international conflict and tragedy.
As of February of 2002, Parmer has been the president of the American Refugee Committee (ARC), which is a Minnesota-based humanitarian aid agency that conducts international relief operations. The mission of the American Refugee Committee (ARC) is to work with refugees, displaced people, and those at risk to help them survive crises and rebuild lives of dignity, health, security, and self-sufficiency.
The Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Lecture Series, named for a Swedish diplomat who directly opposed the Nazi Party during World War II, has been a Gustavus tradition since 1983. In an effort to educate and raise awareness about international conflict, the Peace Studies program invites a speaker to campus who has experienced some aspect of a world tragedy.
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