Susan Megy

Contact: s.megy1nuigalway.ie / susan.megygmail.com, Skype: susanjmegy

Qualifications:

• BA Political Science &  History, Chaminade University of Honolulu
  
• MA, Political Science, International Relations & Economic Developmen, Illinois State University
• PhD Candidate, Human Rights Law, 2011, Irish Centre for Human Rights

SUSAN MEGY is a doctoral Research Fellow with the Irish Centre for Human Rights and a PhD Candidate in the School of Law at The National University of Ireland Galway. Her academic and professional areas of expertise include genocide prevention, rule of law/transitional justice and peacekeeping. Susan has worked for over 15 years in various business, military and non-profit/NGO environments in research, program management, marketing, and policy, advocacy and public affairs/outreach roles. Prior to the PhD, Susan worked as a Research & Policy Analyst where she focused on conflict early warning systems, the Responsibility to Protect, rule of law and other anti-genocide issues, as well as human trafficking/slavery policy. Susan has also consulted with organizations that focus on social change media and social entrepreneurship as well as Human Rights and HIV/AIDS.  Susan has worked with a variety of agencies and oragnisations such as the United States Institute for Peace, the United Nations (UN) Office of the Special Advisor on Genocide Prevention, the International Crisis Group (ICG), Swisspeace FAST, The UN World Food Program, Oxfam International, Genocide Intervention Network, the Henry L. Stimson Center and Columbia University’s Center for International Conflict Resolution (CICR).

As a former Peace Corps volunteer, Susan facilitated with local government in Bulgaria to expand and enhance various community and economic development projects. Early in her career, Susan was a photographer with the US Navy at Pearl Harbor, providing photographic support for both Navy and Marine Corps commands/units, including forensics  (crime scene) photography and large public ceremonies for the Commander of the US Pacific Fleet. Susan also contributed content to various Military news outlets and managed a photo lab team of five personnel.

Susan currently lectures on a graduate seminar in the Public Advocacy Masters Program at the Huston School of Film and Digital Media, NUI Galway.

Thesis title: 'Under Imminent Threat?'... Prioritising the Protection of Civilians (POC) and Streamlining Military Responses to Mass Atrocities 

Are today’s military forces adequately prepared to protect civilians from systematic, conscience shocking levels of violence? When human lives are at stake, and all existing means of prevention fail, a swift military response is often the last viable option.

In 2005, the international community embraced a ’responsibility to protect’ civilians from genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and ethnic cleansing at the UN World Summit. Yet, despite our collective promise to protect those facing mass violence, fundamental gaps continue to exist between political ambitions and timely action on the ground.  Mustering the necessary political will continues to be problematic; protecting civilians not only incurs great risk to the governments and military actors intervening, but also involves significant financial cost. To further complicate the issue, the question of who should intervene, when it is appropriate to intervene and more importantly how to intervene is still difficult to answer.

It is the ongoing disconnect between political ambitions and practical action has had devastating effects on the ground; peacekeeping forces mandated to protect civilians in conflict zones are ill-equipped, under funded and universally lack the necessary training to address such complex combat scenarios. Military operations are often hampered by a myriad of obstacles, particularly with regards to doctrine, training and the clear interpretation of mandates. To date, protecting civilians has been more of an implied task vs. explicit objective within peacekeeping operations and there are still relatively few missions where civilian protection is the primary task or goal. Forces deployed to conflict zones frequently lack the proper guidance and planning tools on how to protect civilians that face mass violence and UN Peacekeeping Missions, national militaries and multinational organisations are only beginning to address deficiencies and more comprehensively prepare for such complex tasks.

The purpose of this research is to investigate current initiatives to improve capacities to protect civilians, should a military response be necessary. This research theorizes that military leaders who have served in both robust peace operations and ad hoc multinational forces have valuable knowledge that can help inform future planning/training, yet their stories are seldom told.  By collecting the oral histories of former military leaders, this work will contribute to current initiatives focused on improving doctrine and training, an essential ingredient to inform future missions tasked with preventing atrocities. 

CONFERENCE PAPERS/PUBLICATIONS

• International Security Studies Section (ISSS) of the International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Conference. Paper submitted ’ A Force for Good? Developing a Concept of Operations (CONOPS) to Improve Military Preparedness to Protect Civilians from Mass Atrocities.’
• Armed Forces Law Association of New Zealand “Human Rights and the Military; A duty to protect?”  ’ Lessons from the Field: Improving Military Preparedness to Protect Civilians from Mass Atrocities.’
• European Science Foundation ’ The Responsibility to Protect: From Principle to Practice
• Forthcoming: Institute for Security Studies African Security Review ’A New Peacekeeping Paradigm? The African Union and Mass Atrocity Response Operations.’

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