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Rory Stewart

Ryan Family Professor of the Practice of Human Rights, Carr Center

Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

Contact:
Telephone: 617-496-5324
Email: rory_stewart@hks.harvard.edu

Experience

Rory Stewart, Ryan Family Professor of the Practice of Human Rights, will become Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy as of January 1, 2009. Stewart is the founder and Chief Executive of the Turquoise Mountain Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the regeneration of the historic commercial center of Kabul, Afghanistan. It has restored over fifty buildings, created an institute to train women and men in traditional crafts, helped businesses to export, installed drainage and water supply, established a clinic and primary school and promoted Afghan culture through international exhibitions. The Foundation is building capacity in the government, universities, and local businesses; training local students and creating employment; and protecting historic areas, attracting visitors and improving living standards. Rory earned his BA and MA in Modern History and Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Balliol College, Oxford University, served as an officer in the British Army, and worked for the British Diplomatic Service in Indonesia, Montenegro and elsewhere, before taking two years to walk from Turkey to Bangladesh. He covered 6,000 miles on foot across Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal - a journey rich with experiences which he describes in his critically acclaimed book entitled The Places in Between. In 2003 he started working for the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq. As Deputy Governorate Coordinator (Amara/Maysan) and Senior Adviser and Deputy Governorate Coordinator (Nasiriyah/Dhi Qar), Stewart established the governance structures of Maysan province; resolved tribal disputes to restore security and consolidate the authority of the Iraqi government and the police; set up NGOs and civil society organizations; ran municipal elections; inaugurated a new Provincial Council in Dhi Qar and saw the province through to the transfer of sovereignty in June 2004. In recognition of his service in Iraq, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by the British Government in 2004. He wrote Occupational Hazards: My Time Governing in Iraq, published in the United States under the title The Prince of the Marshes, describing his experiences with the CPA. Rory spent the 2004-05 academic year at HKS as a Fellow at the Carr Center. He has also written for the New York Times Magazine and the London Review of Books, among other publications.