Former Chef de Cabinet of the Office of the United Nations at Geneva received Gakushuin Women`s College Professors Nakajima and Sakurai along with four students at his villa in France on 3 May 2014.
From 29 April to 5 May 2014, two professors and four students of the Gakushuin Women`s College visited the UN Office in Geneva and other international organizations and received a series of briefings from their officials and retired former international civil servants. The group consisted of Professors Takafumi Nakajima and Daizo Sakurai along with Miss Nozomi Matsuo, Mariko Migita, Fumika Tahara and Saya Yamaguchi.
At the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Professor Hasegawa, accompanied by Hirotaka Kawakami, participated in the ASEAN Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR) symposium on peace and reconciliation processes and initiatives, held in Manila on April 7 and 8, 2014. The participants were Ambassadors/Permanent Representatives to ASEAN and senior diplomats from each member country, and renowned scholars and practitioners were invited as guest speakers. The symposium coincided with the recently concluded Bangsamoro agreement between the Philippines government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and accordingly the key figures in the peace process also joined to present their perspectives and learned lessons. Professor Hasegawa made a presentation on rules-based and situational leadership approaches to inter-state dispute management and resolution, by sharing his experience and reflection to serve Timor-Leste as Special Representative of the UN Secretary General (SRSG). After his presentations, he received several questions regarding the efficacy of resorting to international law in resettling territorial issues. (Hirotaka Kawakami, Program Associate, Hiroshima Peacebuilders Center)
On 14 March, Timorese Finance Minister Emilia Pires visited the secretariat of the Japan Forum on International Relations and met with Mr. Kaoru Ishikawa, Senior Executive Director. Mr. Ishikawa informed the Minister about the role played by Japan Forum in fostering exchange of views on current international issues, while Minister Pires explained about the g7+ group of fragile countries aimed at self-reliance and cooperation.
On 14 March 2014, Timor-Leste Finance Minister Emilia Pires, who was member the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, explained how the new development goals were established with inclusion of the need for good governance and effective institutions as well as stable and peaceful societies as 10th and 11th goals of new MDGs. In her conversation with Rector David Malone of the UN University, she also provided detailed accounts of peace and state building challenges faced by Timor-Leste and other conflict prone countries. She emphasized the need to hold genuine partnership between host and donor countries by asking that the donor and partner countries talk “nothing about us, without us.”
Minister Agio Pereira of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of Timor-Leste provided an article that explains the administrative pre-decentralisation structure which will signal “the beginning of the second maubere miracle” for the people of the country. The article may be accessed through the following website.
On 3 March, the UN University Library held its first library talk on the book, Primordial Leadership: Peacebuilding and National Ownership written by Professor Sukehiro Hasegawa. Ambassador Isilio da Silva of Timor-Leste pointed out the significance of five key attributes of leadership that contributed to successful peacebuilding in Timor-Leste. The Ambassador was followed by several other discussants that included Mr. Ken Inoue, former Director for Governance Support, UNMIT, Mr. Takakazu Ito, Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Field Support (DFS), New York, Katsumi Ishizuka, Professor, Kyoei University, Professor Miko Maekawa of Osaka University, Ms. Seiko Toyama, International Peace Cooperation Headquarters, Cabinet Office and Mr. Satoru Miyazawa, UNHCR.
On 1 March 2014, Ms. Seiko Toyama of the International Peace Cooperation Headquarters of the Cabinet Office and Mr. Shogo Yoshida, Candidate for Tokyo University Graduate School made their presentations. Ms. Toyama mentioned UN peacekeeping missions in Africa, particularly in UNMISS in South Sudan. She also explained the role played by the Japan Self-Defense Forces personnel. Mr. Yoshida presented his bachelor thesis on the possibility for the concept of human security being reflected within the framework of existing UN peacekeeping activities, using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and the peacekeeping operations in Timor-Leste. Moreover, he adverted to his draft of research proposal for the master’s course.
On 17 January 2014, a book launch was organized at the Palais des Nations in Geneva to mark the publication of Professor Hasegawa’s book, « Primordial Leadership – Peacebuilding and National Ownership in Timor-Leste ». The book launch convened a wide audience from various parts of the UN system and diplomats from Missions to the UN from the region. (Hillel Loew)
Six Japanese senior staff of the Japanese government and UN agencies participated in the training course organized by Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United States Pacific Command for two weeks from 11 to 22 November 2013. The training course was opened and closed by Japanese Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Hirotaka Ishihara, and assisted by Nobuharu Imanishi, Director of International Peace Cooperation and his staff Sachiko Kitahara. Japanese participants were Major General Kimihiko Iwamura and Senior Colonel Shinji Furusho of Japan Self-Defense Forces; Kaoru Magosak, Principal Deputy Director of Economic Policy Division of MOFA; Junko Kunugi, Special Representative of UNICEF in the Palestinian terrirtory; Coco Ushiyama, WFP Representative in Malawi; Shoko Arakaki, UNOCHA External and Donor Relations Chief; Mikiko Sawanishi and UNDEF Deputy Executive Chief. Three persons who attended the course as observers were Miwa Kato of UNODC, Yumiko Takashima of UNHCR and Kazuyoshi Kuroda of JICA. Professor Sukehiro Hasegawa acted as one of the principal mentors while Professor Kenji Isezaki and Ms. Ai Kihara-Hunt delivered lectures on DDS and human rights respectively.
Mr. Michael Emery, Director of UNFPA Human Resources, met with Professor Hasegawa on 23 October and briefed him on two presentations he had made about UN staff competency interviewing and holistic career management. The following two websites show Mr. Emery’s presentations. The YouTube file on competency interviewing can be accessed through http://youtu.be/E3-WKWpNl3I. The YouTube file on holistic career development is http://youtu.be/y7XmgJplfqA. Professor Hasegawa recommends these presentations for people who consider their careers with the United Nations system. (Shogo Yoshida)
As one of three speakers at the public debate held as part of the International Humanitarian and Human Rights in Armed Conflicts organized the Raoul Wallenberg Institute (RWI) in Lund, Sweden, on 30 September and 1 October 2013, Professor Sukehiro Hasegawa spoke about two approaches taken by Japan and Korea on the one hand and Indonesia and Timor-Leste on the other hand with regard to sexual misconducts of soldiers during war and armed conflict. Two other speakers, Margot Wallstrom, former UN Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Almiro Rodriques, Judge at the Constitutional Court of Kosovo spoke respectively about “Another kind of war – on conflict-related sexual violence” and “Massive violations character and its implications as a challenge for international human rights and international humanitarian law.”
United Nations Volunteers, Bonn, Germany: On 8 April 1993, exactly 20 years ago today, Atsuhito Nakata (Atsu), a Japanese UN Volunteer working as a District Electoral Supervisor with the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), was killed in a tragic ambush along with his Khmer interpreter, Lek Sophiep, in the province of Kampong Thom. He was 25 years old.
Former UN Volunteer electoral supervisors and their families along with retired UN officials, colleagues and friends celebrated on 16 and 17 August 2013 the 20th anniversary of the Cambodian elections held under the auspices of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) in 1993. The anniversary event, organized by former UN Volunteer electoral supervisor and now Head of UNDP Sub-Office in Hargeisa, Somalia, Stephen Kinloch-Pichat, took place in Rabillière, Saint-Laurent-d’Oingt, France.
The longest-running English language monthly magazine in Switzerland, Swiss News, carried a story about the transfer of sovereign power from the United Nations to the newly independent nation of Timor-Leste. The photo shows Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Sukehiro Hasegawa handing over the flag of the United Nations to President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste Xanana Gusmao on 19 May 2005. Since 1982, Swiss News has brought Swiss culture, business, and news to increasingly diverse, international readership of 60,000 in Switzerland. Swiss News is distributed to premier hotels in the country and is one of the few magazines to be circulated within the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos.
A two day international symposium entitled, “Transforming Conflict and Building Cohesion through Identity,” was held at Doshisha University in the historic scenic city, Kyoto in the first week of July, on 5 and 6 July 2013. The symposium brought together anthropologists, sociologists and political scientists from around the world. (Guneshwor Ojha)
The annual conference of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) was held at Lund University in Sweden from 17 to 19 June 2013. The theme of this year`s conference was “Leadership in Global Governance.” More than 200 scholars and researchers from all over the world participated in the conference. (The photo shows, Former President of the Republic of Slovenia Danilo Türk speaking at the last plenary session along with David Malone, Rector of UN University.) (Hillel Loew)
On 27 April 2013, Professor Sukehiro Hasegawa spoke to 60 officers of the Ministry of Defense as well as the Cabinet Peace Cooperation Headquarters about the peacekeeping and peacebuilding issues. He presented his analysis of such events as the security incidents resulting in death of UN volunteer electoral supervisor Atsuhito Nakata and Japanese police officer Haruyuki Takada in Cambodia in 1993, the Battle of Mogadishu in 1994, and the Kibeho Tragedy in Rwanda in 1995. He also stressed the need to achieve overall positive results through coordination and integration of security, humanitarian and development assistance provided by UN and other organizations in conflict-prone and post-conflict countries, bearing in mind the need to balance national and human security concerns. (Shogo Yoshida)
According to the press release made by the Government of Timor-Leste, the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, H.E. Mr. Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão, has appointed Professor Sukehiro Hasegawa, former Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General as his Special Adviser on Good Governance and Development. Please refer to the Government’s website: http://timor-leste.gov.tl/?p=7975&lang=en&n=1 for details of the announcement. (Shogo Yoshida)
From 1st to 5th of April, Japanese students attending graduate schools in the United Kingdom and other European universities participated in the training program on the path to become UN professional staff and the competencies required for the entry to UN organizations. This program, which was organized by the Matsumoto Kenshukai in Geneva, was assisted by many supporters and volunteers. It reflected the recognition of Japanese government and people about the need to increase Japanese staff presence in the UN and other international organizations commensurate with the share of Japanese financial contributions to the organizations. In this program, we visited several agencies such as UNCTAD, WHO, IOM, UNHCR and UNICEF and met current and former staff of the UN and other international organizations. All of the lectures were most helpful in providing us with not only relevant information but also lessons we should keep in mind for our studies and future career goals. On the first and third days of the seminar, Professor Hasegawa made informative talks on transformation of roles and policies of international organizations and the latest doctrines on norms of protection. He also advised us on the importance of knowing ourselves thoroughly in terms of our suitability to any specific career path we wish to pursue by using the Myers-Briggs personality type indicators. I am sure this training program will be a turning point for us in making decisions for our career paths. (Yuhei Shiratsuchi)