Rektors blogg:

Book Launch seminar May 18th; Author: Dan Banik, Title: POVERTY AND ELUSIVE DEVELOPMENT.
 

Introductory speech given by Ole Petter Ottersen, Rector, University of Oslo

The University of Oslo is a large university and many books are launched every year. For obvious reasons I as a Rector cannot take part each time a new book is published. When I gratefully accepted the invitation to contribute to the present event it was first and foremost because this book resonates extremely well with the ambitions of our University, as set out in our new Strategy plan sanctioned by the University Board just two weeks ago. As discussed in more detail later, Dan Banik’s book deals with global challenges, draws on data and expertise across a wide range of disciplines, and addresses a wide audience, far beyond the rather limited research community that is directly engaged in the work at hand. These are all aspects that figure prominently in our new strategy plan. This plan sees our University as a hub for multidisciplinary and high quality research on the grand challenges that we are currently facing, nationally as well as internationally.

Being a non-expert in the field I cannot and should not go deep into the subject matter of Dan’s book. But I would like to offer a few reflections. After having spent quite some time in the interesting and often provocative company of Dan’s text I must say that I was particularly intrigued by the discussion in Chapter 5 of the coupling between development issues and human rights. The new leadership of the University has a strong focus on human rights and aspires to make the University’s research efforts in this field more visible on the international arena. In this context one is struck by Thomas Pogge’s forceful statement, quoted on p. 127 in Dan’s book: “By maintaining poverty in the world, affluent countries are committing the most serious of human rights violations in history.” The sheer magnitude of the problem certainly calls for more research on the reasons why development has eluded the poor. This is the exact topic of Dan’s new book.

In his book, Dan questions both the moral and empirical foundations of current efforts. What is the role of affluent societies in combating poverty in the developing world? It is equally important to focus attention on the role of affluent actors and elites, including academics, in poor countries. To what extent do they accept and question the continued production of poverty, indeed often extreme forms of it? Whose responsibility is it to confront power imbalances and discrimination in local society and to what extent can we expect the international community to fix such problems, when developed countries themselves are currently battling concerns of their own, be it in relation to finance or climate change?

In accordance with our new strategy plan, I think we need to connect the growing research-based knowledge we possess on development with more interdisciplinary approaches. No one discipline on its own can claim to understand the problems facing the world’s poor today. And Dan himself has drawn on a range of disciplines in his work. Indeed, in addition to refer to political scientists, Dan has drawn heavily on the works of economists, anthropologists, sociologists, philosophers, historians, lawyers and natural scientists. As most of you are aware, interdisciplinary work continues to pose numerous challenges to both academics and administrators, but I am pleased to note that with centres such as the Centre for Development and the Environment, where Dan is based, renewed attempts are being made to reach across well-known divides, particularly between the social sciences and the natural sciences.

Our strategy plan also calls for a stronger and more productive focus on research partnership with institutions in both developed and developing countries. Towards this end I am delighted with Prof. David Kennedy’s visit to our University. We have a long history of collaboration with Harvard and I hope this will be further strengthened through this visit. We are also in the process to initiating new collaborative ventures with institutions such as Berkeley and Stanford in the United States and a host of other institutions in U.S.A. and Europe. However, we also need to focus on other regions of the world. For example, Dan tells me that the work by researchers from Sub-Saharan Africa is seldom cited in well-known publications on democracy, governance and poverty. This is a worrying trend that we must try to reverse.

There has, for long, been a trend to sign agreements with institutions in the South for the promotion of joint academic research. Unfortunately, most such agreements do not result in much, and hence I believe we should focus on select institutions in Africa, Asia and Latin America with which we have well-established contact at the level of individual researchers. We need strong collaborative links to generate new empirical knowledge and to influence public policy related to the production as well as the reduction of poverty. Towards this end we must harness research funding that not only helps promote collaboration with institutions and researchers in developing countries, but also funding that specifically targets the operationalisation of the “buzzwords” and fashionable development jargon that often amount to little more than rhetoric. As Dan shows in the book, we need to question the practical benefit of constantly inventing new terminology and approaches, and rather refocus our efforts in understanding how we can actually translate these into policies that benefit people living in poverty.

Speaking about jargon - the new strategy of the University of Oslo uses the term “grensesprengende” – perhaps best translated as “groundbreaking” – to denote the kind of research that is needed to take on the global challenges that we are currently facing. “Grensesprengende” research is certainly needed to effectively provide an implementable remedy to urgent problems associated with poverty. In particular, the book highlights the need to bridge the gap between research and policy. We need to revisit the role that we at universities can play in not only providing key empirical inputs for policy formulation, but also in terms of influencing public policy – and politics in general – to address the issues that we believe are important. Towards this end we must maintain regular contact with politicians and administrators, and I am pleased to welcome Dr. Ragnhild Dybdahl from NORAD to our University.

I understand that our Centre for Development and the Environment has a long tradition of working closely with the World Bank, the UN agencies, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NORAD, to name a few. And I note that in this book, Dan draws attention to his numerous research projects and networks that have not only been funded by the Research Council of Norway, but also by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also tells me that his scholarship has richly benefited from diverse activities such as his role as a Board Member of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess’s Humanitarian Fund, and as Head of the Reference Group of the Norwegian-Finnish Trust Fund in the World Bank on Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development (TFESSD).

Finally, I want to express my hope that the University will be able to keep and sharpen its focus on development-related issues, where we – through our broad range of disciplines - can provide critical insight into failures and success stories alike. And I trust that the Research Council and political authorities will increase the funding available for such research. Related to this is the need to communicate the findings of our research, which ought to be a major goal if we are to be more successful in becoming a more socially engaged University – a commitment solidly embedded in our strategy plan. This means not only disseminating results among ourselves, and within the confinements of our campus, but also doing so to the society at large – a task that Dan's mentor Prof. Bernt Hagtvet has performed exceptionally well. Indeed, as Dan’s work shows, we cannot expect to conduct research in splendid isolation from social and political realities. And balancing the goal of excellence in academic scholarship, while maintaining a healthy dose of involvement in other activities outside our campuses, remains a challenging task.

Through his new book, Dan Banik demonstrates that he has come to grips with this challenge. My congratulations!

Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen

It is my privilege, on behalf of the University of Oslo and the Peace Research Institute of Oslo (PRIO), to wish you a warm welcome to this seminar on human rights. .

When I was approached by the organisers of the Oslo Freedom Forum some months ago, inquiring whether the UiO would arrange a side event in the wake of the Freedom Forum, I immediately realised that this was an important assignment for the University as an institution, and to me personally, as its Rector.

The new strategy plan for the University of Oslo was sanctioned just a couple of days ago by the University Board. This plan sees it as a primary goal for the University to become even more actively engaged in research on the global challenges. The strategy plan identifies protection of human rights as one of the global challenges that the University needs to respond to, through research as well as education. To open for meetings like this, where human rights issues are brought to the fore, is part of the University’s response. And we are looking forward to develop and strengthen our collaboration with PRIO and other institutions outside of the University that deal with research on human rights and peace. In regard to education I take this opportunity to announce that the International Summer School will launch a new graduate course on Human Rights as of summer this year. The establishment of this course was inspired by last year’s visit of former Vice President Walter Mondale. During his stay he spoke warmly of the research and educational activities here in Oslo that focus on peace and human rights issues.   

Several faculties at our University are involved in research and education on human rights. However, the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights (NCHR) is the main human rights institution at UiO, focusing on the protection of these rights domestically as well as internationally. The Centre has the same function and roles as any university institution in  regard to research and teaching. It is a multidisciplinary academic institution; its staff is composed of lawyers, political scientists, anthropologists and philosophers. The Centre is also Norway’s National Human Rights Institution in accordance with the UN “Paris Principles.” In this capacity, the Centre is involved in matters concerning the effective implementation of international human rights commitments into the Norwegian legal and political system

Why, then, do I see the focus on human rights as being of paramount importance to the UiO and to me, as Rector? The reasons are many; and they are visible on different levels.

One obvious reason takes us back to the Oslo Freedom Forum this week. During the past two days, we have heard human rights defenders from around the world give strong testimonies. They have suffered in the past, they are still suffering today, for no other error than to have called upon the authorities to honour their human rights commitments. These brave individuals all need the firm support of the academic community at UiO. We, who are privileged to carry out our intellectual work under secure and safe circumstances, should support the human rights defenders out there through our research.  We can do normative studies, we can do empirical studies, we can do political studies, proving that the legal, the political and the socio-economic situation in a given state is violating the international human rights standards.

Another reason why focus on human rights is important is this: The UiO is educating the next generation of leaders, who will work not only within the Norwegian society, but within societies and states worldwide. It is part of our responsibility to make these students internalise respect for human rights standards. In a state governed by the rule of law, respect for human rights norms is not only a moral duty. These are legal commitments; and violations may even be subject to a personal responsibility before the courts.

The focus on human rights can also be regarded as a consequence of our scientific work. In its pursuit of objective truth, science leaves no room for inequality or discrimination.

Finally, deep down, we must always repeat that scientific work itself presupposes, and is based on, a respect for human rights. Without freedom of information, freedom of expression, freedom of thought and conscience, progress in science is seriously hampered. An authoritarian political regime which suppresses the basic rights and freedoms will always contaminate the academic sphere.

We live, not only as academics and intellectuals, at the UiO. We live here as human beings. That involves a responsibility. The Norwegian poet, Arnulf Øverland, warned his generation, as the atrocities of the Nazi regime became apparent: ”Dare not to sleep”. What he said is that it is all too easy to be indifferent to the suffering of others. This is a warning that is as relevant today as it was in Øverland’s time.

Another strong and clear voice, from contemporary times: When the UN Declaration of the Human Rights Defenders – a document we will hear more about later – was adopted in 1998, the Secretary General, Kofi Annan stated:

“The Declaration rests on a basic premise: that when the rights of the human rights defenders are violated, all of our rights are put in jeopardy and all of us are made less safe.”

I hereby declare open the seminar on “Justice versus Security” and give the floor to the Director of PRIO, Kristian Harpviken.