About this speaker
Walter Kemp is particularly focused on GI’s work in South Eastern Europe, and bigger picture issues like dealing with the impact of drugs in urban environments as well as the relationship between crime and conflict. Before joining GI, Walter was head of the Strategic Policy Support Unit at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Between 2010 and 2016 he worked at the International Peace Institute (IPI) where he led the Institute’s “Peace without Crime” project. Previously he served for four years as spokesman and speechwriter at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Between 1996 and 2006 he was at the OSCE, including as Senior Adviser to the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities and Senior Adviser to the Secretary General and OSCE Chairmanships. Walter, who is Canadian, has a PhD in international relations from the London School of Economics, as well as degrees in political science and history from the University of Toronto and McGill University. In addition to his work at GI, he is a Special Adviser to the Cooperative Security Initiative. He also teaches at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna.
