Hugo John Robertson Slim is a British academic and policy advisor in

International Relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

specialising in the ethics of war and humanitarian aid. Slim has written about the nature of contemporary conflict, the protection of civilians and the

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

of humanitarian aid. He is currently a senior research fellow at the Las Casas Institute for Social Justice at Blackfriars Hall at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and also at the Blavatnik School of Government.

Early life and education

Slim is the second son of John Slim, 2nd Viscount Slim, and Elisabeth "Buffy" Slim, née Spinney. He was educated at Broadlands Primary School in

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

and St George's School, Windsor before going to

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and then to St John's College, Oxford where he studied

Theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

. He received his PhD (on the basis of published work) from Oxford Brookes University in 2002.

Contribution to ethics

Slim's writing on war is distinct for its determined focus on the civilian experience of war and the moral arguments he uses to justify the "civilian ethic" in armed conflict. His book, ''Killing Civilians'' (2007) used a historical perspective to establish "seven spheres of suffering" that are typical for civilians in war, and criticised a spectrum of "anti-civilian ideologies" in political and military

policy Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an or ...

that deliberately drive this suffering. Slim has also pioneered a new turn in the applied ethics of Humanitarian Aid. This began with a paper "Doing the Right Thing: Relief Agencies, Moral Dilemmas and Moral Responsibility in Political Emergencies and War" (''Disasters'' 21:3, 1997). His book, ''Humanitarian Ethics: The Morality of Aid in War and Disaster'' (2015) framed a new field of practical humanitarian ethics. This has influenced scholars, policymakers and practitioners in humanitarian aid who are now using and critiquing Slim's approach.

Life and career

Slim has combined a career in academia, policy and practice. He started his career in 1983 with Save the Children UK, working in Morocco, Sudan and Ethiopia and as a field officer for the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Ethiopia. Returning to the UK, he worked on Save the Children's Middle East Desk during the

first Intifada The First Intifada (), also known as the First Palestinian Intifada, was a sustained series of Nonviolent resistance, non-violent protests, acts of civil disobedience, Riot, riots, and Terrorism, terrorist attacks carried out by Palestinians ...

and the Iraqi Kurdish refugee crisis in Turkey, before becoming Senior Research Officer from 1992 to 1994. He was appointed senior lecturer at Oxford Brookes University in 1994 to co-lead the new Masters in Development and Humanitarian Practice with Nabeel Hamdi at the Centre for Development and Emergency Practice (CENDEP). In 2001, Hamdi and Slim won a Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher Education for their "exceptional innovation in the education of humanitarian professionals." Slim has since worked at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue in

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and as a senior research fellow at the Institute of Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC) at the University of Oxford where he co-founded the Oxford Consortium for Human Rights with Cheyney Ryan and other US academics in 2012. From 2015 to 2020, he was head of policy at the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva. Slim has been a Trustee of Oxfam GB and the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) and a visiting professor at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

, the Graduate Institute in Geneva, and Tsinghua University's Schwarzman College as part of the Schwarzman Scholars program.

Personal life

Slim is married to Asma Khaliq Awan, an international humanitarian worker from

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. He has two children from his first marriage to the writer and journalist, Rebecca Abrams.

Bibliography

*''Listening for a Change: Oral Testimony and Development'' (Panos, 1993) *''A Feast of Festivals: Celebrating the Spiritual Seasons of the Year'' (Marshall Pickering, 1996) *''Protection: An ALNAP Guide for Humanitarian Agencies'' (ALNAP, 2005) *''Killing Civilians: Method, Madness and Morality in War'' (Hurst and Oxford University Press, 2007) *''Humanitarian Ethics: The Morality of Aid in War and Disaster'' (Hurst and Oxford University Press, 2015)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slim, Hugo Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Younger sons of viscounts