GPAJ Member, Arbenita Sopaj visited Tokyo from Kobe University this week. Arbenita has been an active member of GPAJ as one of the moderators for the zoom conference on “The Impact of the UN Intervention on Contemporary Kosovo” featuring Ambassador Leon Malazogu and others. She held an informal lunch with Sukehiro Hasegawa, President of GPAJ, Ken Inoue, Vice President of GPAJ, Elizabeth Gamarra, member of the GPAJ Board.

In his article just published by China Daily on September 23, Director of the Research Center for United Nations and International Organizations of Fudan University, Professor Zhang Guihong, who is member of the Global Peacebuilding Association of Japan, recognizes the UN has a unique advantage in promoting universal values as well as global norms and ethics. Please click here for his full article.

GPAJ Vice President Mio Sato will be appointed as IOM Office Director in Pakistan next month, and her successor, GPAJ Vice President Kumagai, organized a farewell lunch. It was most enjoyable to have eight members get together at the restaurant for the first time in a long time and talk to each other directly. Yumiko Kaneko, a UNDP staff in the Philippines and a GPAJ member, joined us. From right: Ken Inoue, Vice President of GPAJ, Mio Sato, Director of IOM, Takaaki Mizuno, Professor of Kanda University of International Studies, Keiichi Tanabe, Professor of Tokai University, Yumiko Kaneko, UNDP staff, Sukehiro Hasegawa, GPAJ President, and Naoko Kumagai, Vice President and Professor at Aoyama Gakuin University.

Last week flying from Narita to Zurich, I successfully entered Switzerland. Visited my son, Stefan Hiroshi, and his family in Geneva. Later this week, my wife and I will try to enter Germany to meet our second daughter, Corinne, who has lost her husband recently and her two children. Here is a photo of my grandchildren Kenji and Alisah.

Online Extraordinary Meeting of the GPAJ General Assembly elected Mr. Ken INOUE, former Senior Advisor on Democratic Governance, Ambassador Motoo NOGUCHI and Ambassador Yasuyoshi KOMIZO as new members of the Board of Directors which in turn appointed Mr. Ken INOUE and Professor KUMAGAI Vice Presidents.

In a video message to a meeting of international organizations working on the spread of vaccines, Prime Minister Abe pledged $300 million in support of the development of vaccines for developing countries.

(日本語) 安倍総理大臣は、新型コロナウイルスへの対応をめぐり、米中関係の対立が深まっているなか、日本は、ＷＨＯの総会において、公平で独立した包括的な検証を行うべきであるという決議案をＥＵや豪州等と協力をして提出をし、米国や中国も合意したと述べた。そして、日本は自由、民主主義、基本的人権、法の支配といった普遍的な価値を共有する国々と手を携えながら、国際社会での重要な役割、責任を果たしていく意向を示した。（記者会見に関しては、首相官邸のウエッブサイトを参照して下さい。）

Advisory Recommendations and Report of the Commission on Global Governance was presented to the Diet Committee for World Federalist Movement at the International Conference Hall of the Diet Members First Building in Tokyo. Please click here for the report.

小溝泰義氏は、米ロ新START条約の期限延長実現を基盤とする多数国間核軍縮交渉の働きかけ、広島･長崎への国際会議誘致や市民社会の議論の場の提供、日本国憲法第9条の理念を具体化して国際発信する必要などに言及した。

Please click here for his video message.

The 27th anniversary of the tragic ambush in Kampong Thom is being commemorated in midst of one of the largest planetary disasters in the last century, the COVID-19 pandemic. This extraordinary situation brings former UN Volunteer Electoral Supervisors, who on 8 April remembered the tragic killing of Atsuhito Nakata and his fellow interpreter Lek Sophiep, back to the very meaning of what took their lives, and gave them, back then, a renewed sense of optimism: at the heart of their UN engagement, what gave them the strength to continue in the face of adversity, the spirit of international cooperation, and going beyond self-interest.

Chair of the Japan Commission for Global Governance, Professor Sukehiro HASEGAWA submitted its summary report, entitled “the role of Japan in enhancing global governance in addressing global issues and crises” which contained the recommendations made by six sub-committees concerning UN Reform, Environment, Disarmament, Parliamentary Diplomacy, Innovative Resources Mobilization, and Rule of Law.

Thiis report was compiled by Mr. Simon Panchaud, Elizabeth Gamarra and Maja Liechti whose hard work has been much appreciated. Click here for full report.