Giandomenico Picco, high-level United Nations diplomat and celebrated peace negotiator, will present a public lecture entitled, "The New Middle East: From Lebanon to Iran" at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, November 14 in the UCSB Corwin Pavilion. This event is part of the "Global Peace, Security, and Human Rights" lecture series. Courtesy of the UCSB Bookstore, copies of his highly acclaimed book, Man Without a Gun: One Diplomat's Secret Struggle to Free the Hostages, Fight Terrorism, and End a War, will be available for purchase and signing at this event.

Picco currently serves as Personal Representative of the Secretary General for the United Nations' Year of Dialogue among Civilizations. He is also the CEO of GDP Associates, Inc. New York City, and President of the non-governmental Peace Strategies Project in Geneva, Switzerland.

During his career at the United Nations, Mr. Picco was Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs from 1973 to 1992. He played a crucial role in several Middle East negotiations, including the release of Western hostages in Lebanon, the 1988 cease-fire agreement between Iran and Iraq, and the Geneva agreements on the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.

Picco's autobiographical account, Man Without a Gun, is the true story of a single UN diplomat's astonishing high-wire struggle for peace in the Middle East. UN secretary general Javier Perez de Cuellar once called the author "more of a soldier than a diplomat." And indeed, his life is the stuff of John Le Carre thrillers. But Man Without a Gun is more than a thriller: it is a real-life voyage through the maze of the secretive Middle East, the inside account of the political maneuverings that continue to dominate today's headlines, and the moving story of one man's struggle to bring some hope to a violent land.

He is a contributor to foreign policy publications in several countries, and has been honored for his work in the Middle East by the governments of Germany, Italy, Lebanon, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Picco has received numerous awards and honorary degrees, including the President's Special Award for Exceptional Service from the U.S., the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Order of the Cedre du Liban from the President of Lebanon, and others.

He graduated from the University of Padua with a degree in political science. He holds a Masters of Arts degree in International Relations and Comparative Politics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a diploma in European Integration Studies from the University of Amsterdam.

This event is part of the "Global Peace, Security, and Human Rights" lecture series being sponsored by the UC Institute for Global Conflict and Cooperation, UCSB Arts & Lectures, Global and International Studies Program, Global Peace and Security Program and Interdisciplinary Humanities Center. It is being put on in partnership with the Santa Barbara Committee on Foreign Relations, UCSB Center for Middle East Studies, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, PAX 2100, International Studies Association at Santa Barbara City College, and the International Studies Program at Ventura College.