Ronan Farrow

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Ronan Farrow (born 19 December 1987) is an American human rights activist and freelance journalist.^[1] His writings have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the International Herald Tribune, the Wall Street Journal and other publications, focused primarily on human rights issues in the Horn of Africa.^[2] He has appeared as a frequent commentator on major networks and as an expert witness before the U.S. Congressional Human Rights Caucus.^[3] Farrow is a graduate of Yale Law School.

In early 2009, Farrow was reported to be in the vetting process for an unspecified foreign policy appointment in the Obama administration.^[4] Subsequently, State Department sources indicated that Farrow is serving as "Special Advisor on Humanitarian and NGO Affairs," focusing on Afghanistan and Pakistan.^[5]

Contents 1 Early life 2 Advocacy and humanitarian work 3 Obama administration appointment 4 Writings 5 Coverage 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Early life

Born as Satchel Ronan O'Sullivan Farrow, he is the son of film director Woody Allen and actress Mia Farrow, and was once a subject of their well-publicized custody dispute. He has been estranged from his father since his parents' separation.^[6]

Farrow himself first came to prominence as a child prodigy^[7] when at age 11 he became the youngest student to attend Bard College at Simon's Rock in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Although Simon's Rock specializes in teaching "younger scholars", most of its incoming first-year students are age 16. After receiving his A.A. degree, Farrow transferred to Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, where he moderated in the biology department and ultimately completed his senior thesis project in political science and philosophy. He went on to become the college's youngest ever graduate at age 15.^[8]

At age 16, Farrow was accepted into law school at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. He deferred his admission until the fall of 2006 to work as Special Assistant to Richard Holbrooke, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, and for additional work with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). While at Yale Farrow became popular among graduate and undergraduate students alike and was even able to reunite with a close childhood friend, Rebekah Diamond.^[9]

[edit] Advocacy and humanitarian work

Since 2001, Ronan Farrow has worked as a UNICEF Spokesperson for Youth in Nigeria, Angola, and Sudan. In 2001, he worked with youth groups and local leaders on the AIDS epidemic in Nigeria. In 2002, he traveled to Angola, assisting in fundraising and addressing United Nations groups on that country's needs in the immediate aftermath of decades of civil war.^[1] On June 1, 2006, Ronan Farrow hosted a summit at the United Nations headquarters on ensuring that children are included in the global movement for universal access to AIDS prevention and treatment.^[10]

In 2004, Farrow worked in the Darfur region of Sudan, where he was joined by his mother advocating for refugees. During the following year, his writings on the Darfur conflict appeared in Newsday and the Boston Herald. He has since appeared on MSNBC, ABC, and CNN advocating for the protection of Darfuri refugees. Ronan Farrow returned to Darfur with UNICEF in June 2006. Farrow continued to author reports from the region, including a column on child soldiers fighting in the region that ran in the International Herald Tribune on July 4, 2006,^[11] and an article on the relationship between China and the government of Sudan, which appeared in The Wall Street Journal on August 10, 2006.^[12]

In 2005, Farrow signed on as a representative of the Genocide Intervention Network, working to build support for the protection of civilians threatened by genocide.^[13] In 2007, he served under the chief counsel of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs. In April 2008, he accompanied a congressional delegation to the Horn of Africa, during which he authored a column for the Los Angeles Times on Ethiopia's brutal counter-insurgency in the Ogaden desert.[2]

On October 4, 2007, Farrow testified before the U.S. Congressional Human Rights Caucus, advocating for increased funding for UN Peacekeeping efforts.^[3]

Farrow's recent columns for the The Wall Street Journal have focused on the controversial track record of the United Nations Human Rights Council^[14] and President Bush's decision to attend the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.^[15]

During his time at Yale Law School, Farrow was a summer associate at New York-based law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell. In 2008, he headed a study for the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the Kibera slums of Nairobi, focused on post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from Kenya's election violence.^[16]

In 2008, Farrow shared Refugees International's McCall-Pierpaoli Humanitarian Award, for "extraordinary service to refugees and displaced people."^[17] In 2009, he was named by New York Magazine as their "New Activist" of the year and one of fourteen "New Yorkers on the verge of changing their worlds".^[16]

[edit] Obama administration appointment

Despite Farrow's prior critical coverage of the Obama administration's human rights policies,^[18] in 2009 reports circulated that he had been recruited for an undisclosed government appointment and was in the midst of a vetting process.^[19][20]

It has since been reported that Farrow has been appointed as the State Department's "Special Advisor on Humanitarian and NGO Affairs," focusing on Afghanistan and Pakistan.^[21] The State Department defended Farrow^[22], calling him "very qualified for the job" and noting that he had "already helped explain the current situation re: Pakistani procurements to key NGOs, including a meeting he organized today with InterAction and its affiliated NGOs." Another State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, referred to Farrow as "a friggin' genius," adding that "he’s young but he has a depth of experience that many people twice his age lack."^[23]

Pakistani daily The Nation praised the choice, adding that “with his undoubtable access to corridors in Washington, [Farrow] is worth many Haqqanis” (referring to current Pakistani Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani). “Our biggest benefit will be in Ronan Farrow bringing Pakistan to the world map, as a centre of importance and not just an exporter of terror. He will no doubt highlight the positive, and surely will bring … important decision-makers to invest in Pakistan.”^[24] Columnist Fakir S. Ayazuddin projected that Farrow would revitalize efforts to combat poverty, noting that “we have the expertise and the energy, and with people like Farrow to bring in business partners, we can do it.”^[24]

Farrow has yet to comment publicly on the rumored appointment.

[edit] Writings

• "Beware of the U.N. Human Rights Council", by Ronan Farrow, published in Wall Street Journal, 6 April 2009
• "No Olympic Medal for Bush", by Ronan Farrow, published in the Wall Street Journal, 11 July 2008.
• "Ethiopia's war on its own", by Ronan Farrow, published in the Los Angeles Times, 25 February 2008.
• "The U.N.'s Human-Rights Sham", by Ronan Farrow, published in the Wall Street Journal, 29 January 2008.
• "Darfur's Forgotten Rebel", by Ronan Farrow, published in the Wall Street Journal, 21 June 2007.
• "The 'Genocide Olympics'", by Ronan Farrow and Mia Farrow, published in the Wall Street Journal, 28 March 2007.
• "International Community Paralyzed By Khartoum", by Ronan Farrow, published in the Washington Post's PostGlobal blog, 26 September 2006.
• "China's Crude Conscience", by Ronan Farrow, published in the Wall Street Journal, 10 August 2006.
• "Yahia's Question: Who Will Protect Darfuris?", by Ronan Farrow, published in the International Herald Tribune, 4 July 2006.
• "Darfur needs follow-through", by Ronan Farrow and Rebecca Hamilton, published in the Boston Herald, 26 November 2005.
• "The Cries of Darfur Fall on Deaf Ears", by Ronan Seamus Farrow, published in Newsday
• "Mia & Ronan Farrow Report from Darfur", published on the Genocide Intervention Network website

[edit] Coverage

• "Live From Second Life: Crisis In Darfur Ronan Farrow, Mia Farrow, John Heffernan and photojournalist Ron Haviv, Jan. 9, 2007, Second Life (posted on ummyeah.com on March 12, 2007)
• "Mia and Ronan: Like Mother, Like Son", by Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts, The Washington Post, 11 August 2006.
• "Chilling Permanency", interview with Ronan and Mia Farrow, by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Committee on Conscience "Voices on Genocide Prevention" podcast, 10 August 2006.
• "UNICEF Youth Spokesperson Ronan Farrow heads call for universal access to HIV treatment", by Rachel Bonham Carter, UNICEF, 1 June 2006.
• Discussing Darfur, on Hardball with Chris Matthews, May 13, 2005
• "Ronan Farrow: A prominent voice advocating for children in Darfur", by Kun Li, UNICEF, 20 December 2005.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Biography on the Genocide Intervention Network website.