At a press conference held at UN Headquarters on July 20, US Secretary of State Pompeo stated Presidents Trump and Putin discussed how to return Syrian refugees who had fled the war-torn country during their behind closed doors meeting in Helsinki on July 16, 2018.
From right to left on front row; Ms. Erika FREY, University of Teachers Education Zug; Ms. Reina MOTEGI of the University of Tokyo; Professor Misako TAKIZAWA of Oberlin University; Dr. Ai KIHARA-HUNT, Associate Professor, Graduate Program on Human Security, the University of Tokyo, Deputy Director, Research Center for Sustainable Peace, and Deputy Director, ACUNS Tokyo Office; Ryotaro Takehara of the University of Tokyo.
Second row from left to right: Colonel Amarsaikhan SERDARI, Chief of Special Plans Office of the Mongolian Armed Forces; Professor Takaaki MIZUNO of the Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS); Yasushi KATSUMA, Professor of Waseda University; Ms. Suzuka YAMADA of the University of Tokyo; Ms. Mizuki ARITA of the University of Tokyo; Ms. Moeka TAWADA of the University of Tokyo; Prof. SHENG Hongsheng of Shanghai University of Political Science and Law; Mr. Takashi KAMISHIRO, Head of Field Office Miravalle, UN Verification Mission in Colombia; Professor ZHANG Guihong, Director of the Center for UN Studies, Fudan University and Vice President & Secretary-General, Shanghai UN Research Association.
Third row from left to right: Professor Aygul KULNAZAROVA of Tama University; Ms. Kana YOKOYAMA of the University of Tokyo; Ms. Maja LIECHTI of the University of Tokyo; Mr. Yuki SAITO of the University of Tokyo; Mr. Eisuke KIMURA of the University of Tokyo; and Mr. Simon PANCHAUD of the University of Geneva.
This former Chamber of the Council of the League of Nations is now used by the UN Disarmament Commission which was first created in 1952 but met rarely until 1978 when the first special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament established a successor Disarmament Commission as a subsidiary deliberative body of the Assembly, composed of all Member States of the United Nations.
Thirty-two scholars and students from Japan, China, Korea and Mongolia started their two- day dialogue with senior officials of UNOG, UNHCR, IOM, ICRC, UNHCHR and Geneva Graduate Institute on the theme of Human Rights, Migration and Peacebuilding in a Turbulent Age.
Professor Kihara-Hunt and her students and ACUNS Tokyo Office Event Staff Ms. Erika Frey join the participants from all over the world in the opening reception.
In Switzerland, concerts are held in magnificent auditoriums but also outdoors for villagers to attend and hear. Here is one of the concerts just held in the town of Wadenswil I went yesterday. About 100 people came and, alas, most of them turned out to be more than 60 years old. It`s an aging society here just like Japan. But, Switzerland is accepting foreigners who now constitute more than 30 percent of the population.
According to a report filed by Susan Manuel of PASSBLUE, China`s influence on the process of constructing the new structure of UN peace and security architecture in growing. Please click here her report.
As IOM’s current Director General, William Lacy Swing, steps down after completing the second of two five-year terms, the Special Council`s decisive rejection of the American candidate, Ken Isaacs, in the first round of voting, signaled a growing number of nations are no longer prepared to indefinitely defer to the power of the United States when human rights and values are assaulted by the current US Administration.
CCCPA, in collaboration with the German Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF) organized a three-day peer coaching training workshop on “Mediation and Diplomacy” from 26-28 June 2018. The workshop aimed to enhance Arab and African capacities, at the regional and continental levels in mediation through sharing experience and best practices.
Senior Officials of African Union and League of Arab States attended the workshop and heard a Discourse by President of Global Peacebuilding Association of Japan (GPAJ) Professor S. Hasegawa who stressed the importance of recognizing that Egyptian Civilization preceded two millennium the Civilizations that started in Greece and China.
Senior Officials of African Union and League of Arab States attended the workshop and heard a Discourse by President of Global Peacebuilding Association of Japan (GPAJ) Professor S. Hasegawa on “Philosophy of Peacebuilding: East and West.”
At the IAB meeting chaired by Professor Hasegawa, CCCPA Director General Ashraf Swelam explained the expansion geographical area and nature of CCCPA activities include the Arab region and more contemporary issues such as preventing radicalization and extremism, combatting human trafficking and smuggling of migrants, integrated DDR and women, peace and security.
The CCCPA Advisory Board meeting held on 26 June was chaired by Professor Sukehiro Hasegawa, former Special Representative of the UN Secretary General to Timor-Leste, and attended by Ms. Mary Chinery-Hesse, former Deputy-Director General of the International Labor Organization, Ambassador Mona Omar, former Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Ambassador Aly Erfan, former advisor to the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States and Professor of Practice at the American University in Cairo.
Click here for Rambcharan`s views and suggestions.
Ambassador Nikki Haley announced that the United States is withdrawing from the U.N. Human Rights Council, calling it “an organization that is not worthy of its name.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, appeared alongside Haley at the State Department.
UN report on improving the security of all peacekeepers is viewed as pushing overwhelming and aggressive operations making the UN party to conflict and potentially undermining the security of both UN personnel and the civilians they are meant to protect. Here is her article.
António Guterres also calls for strong partnerships beyond the United Nations and a broad and inclusive approach with international financial institutions including the World Bank, and other multilateral donors, the business community, civil society and local actors.
Ms. Shoko Noda, UN Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative for UNDP in the Maldives has been featured on the “People” column of Asahi Newspaper. In the article, Ms. Noda talks about how she became interested to work for the UN as well as introducing her current work in the Maldives. You can read her article (in Japanese) here.
In their discussion of protection of civilians (POC) issues, East Asian groups examined the Kigali Principle and Cruz Report, and recommended that four countries should strengthen the coordination of their pre-deployment and on-site POC activities while noting progress made by the annual Khan Quest operations exercise in Mongolia.
Ms. Kaoru Nemoto, United Nations Information Centre Director, visited the Maldives from 10 to 16 March 2018, observing the frontlines of climate change adaptation and mitigation. She also met with the Resident Coordinator, Ms. Shoko Noda, and reported on the impacts of climate change to the people of the Maldives, including unpredictable weather patterns and rising sea levels. Ms. Nemoto’s reports on Huffpost Japan (in Japanese) can be read from here.