Research, ideas, and leadership for a more secure, peaceful world
Robert Orr, Assistant Secretary General, UN
“Can the UN do the Job?
Security, Development and
Human Rights Challenges
Following the Global Summit.”
with
Robert C. Orr
Assistant Secretary General for Policy and Planning
Former Executive Director for Research at the Belfer Center
The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs is proud to host a Director's Lunch on “Can the UN do the Job? Security, Development and Human Rights Challenges Following the Global Summit” with Assistant Secretary-General for Policy and Planning Robert Orr.
Dr. Robert C. Orr was appointed Assistant Secretary-General in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General in August 2004. His responsibilities include advising the Secretary-General on the full range of policy issues, running the Secretary-General’s Policy Committee, and leading the UN efforts for the 2005 World Summit, the largest gathering of world leaders in history.
Dr. Orr comes to the United Nations from Harvard University where he served as the Executive Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government. Prior to this, he served as Director of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C.
From 1996 to 2001, Dr. Orr served in senior posts in the United States Government including Deputy to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Director of the USUN Washington office, where he was instrumental in securing an agreement to have the United States pay its arrears to the United Nations. He also served as Director of Global and Multilateral Affairs at the National Security Council, where he was responsible for peacekeeping and humanitarian affairs. Prior to his government service, Dr. Orr worked for the International Peace Academy in New York, and with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Nairobi, Kenya.
From 2001 to 2003, Dr. Orr co-directed a bipartisan commission on post-conflict reconstruction sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington and the Association of the United States Army.
Dr. Orr has published extensively on post-conflict reconstruction, the United Nations, peacekeeping, and democracy promotion. His publications include Winning the Peace: an American Strategy for Post-Conflict Reconstruction (CSIS Press, 2004) and Keeping the Peace: Multidimensional UN Operations in Cambodia and El Salvador (Cambridge University Press, 1997).