Talk and book signing with Pierre Hazan

Ethics of negotiation in wartime

Working in mediation of armed conflicts means stepping into a fog - that of the search for peace. It means walking a tightrope between belligerents for whom the end too often justifies the means and mediators or humanitarians who are trying to limit the suffering caused by war. How can we avoid slipping from compromise to compromise? How far should we go in negotiating with criminal regimes or terrorist organisations? Should we accept to negotiate with the devil and if so, with what risks? This is the Faustian pact that Pierre Hazan explores here, from Bosnia Herzegovina to Syria, from Mali to Colombia and Ukraine. Alternating between real-life accounts and ethical reflection, Pierre Hazan, with his long experience in mediating armed conflicts, attempts to develop a moral compass in a violent world in the throes of recomposition.

Pierre Hazan will be in conversation with Pascal Hufschmid, Executive Director of the Museum.

Pierre Hazan is a senior advisor to the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, one of the leading organisations for the mediation of armed conflicts. He has advised international organisations, governments and armed groups on issues such as justice, amnesty, reparations, truth commissions and enforced disappearances. Pierre Hazan has also worked at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. He was a member of the International Contact Group for the Basque conflict. He has worked in many conflict zones, particularly in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and Europe. Associate researcher at Harvard Law School (2005), at the United States Institute for Peace in Washington (2006), then at the Robert Bosch Academy (2022), Pierre Hazan has taught at Sciences-Po Paris and at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva). He was previously a journalist and has published numerous works including La Paix contre la Justice (AVE/GRIP, 2010) and Juger la guerre, Juger l'histoire (PUF, 2007).