Geopolitics have come roaring back, placing immense strain on an already fractured international system. Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine has challenged the fortitude of core norms of international law that had been assumed fixed. Some of the consequences are beyond prediction, but certainly the precedents this war sets - for others dreaming of territorial conquest and tempted to test international resolve - signal dangerous times ahead for international security and multilateralism.

One important facet of international relations that is profoundly affected by these developments is the set of tools and processes that contribute to the prevention and resolution of conflicts. In an increasingly polarised world, official diplomacy appears to be losing its potency as a method of stopping conflict.

Given the dangers this implies, there is a need to refine and strengthen other peacemaking tools, including the practice of ‘unofficial mediation’ or ‘private diplomacy’, a less understood approach to dealing with conflict; essentially a set of methodologies (and sometimes atypical actors) that can – particularly in times of diplomatic paralysis – complement official efforts or serve as a valuable channel while those efforts are stalled.

The complementarities go beyond backup support to diplomacy, to venturing into areas that diplomats will not touch. ‘Private diplomats’ are less constrained to deal with issues and interlocutors that ‘Track I’ diplomacy cannot, for political, diplomatic or even legal reasons. They are freer to test ideas and be creative - indeed that is their core value-added. This lecture will explore how these private diplomacy tools can be applied, and why it is so critical for these times that they work hand-in-hand with traditional diplomacy.

Paul Dziatkowiec has for the last twelve years worked as a mediator and dialogue facilitator in armed conflicts; currently as Director of Mediation and Peace Support at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, and earlier at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD). In these roles he has initiated and/or facilitated numerous confidential dialogue processes, including in the Ukraine-Russia context, the Caucasus, Middle East, Asia and Africa. Previously, he was an Australian diplomat for over a decade, serving in the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Africa, up to acting Ambassador level; and as a Peace Monitor in Bougainville, earning an Australian Service Medal. He has visited more than 100 countries, written on peacemaking in different regions, and delivered guest lectures on similar themes in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Australia. Paul is also a Senior Adviser to the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Peace Dividend Initiative, Fellow at the Oxford Global Society and member of Diplomats Without Borders.