UN University Rector David MALONE held a talk with GPAJ Special Advisor Yasushi AKASHI and President Sukehiro HASEGAWA at the International House of Japan in Tokyo before his retirement on 28 February, and his successor, Professor Tshilidzi MARWALA, commences his work on 1 March 2023.
Please click here for the video recording of the online seminar on Japan`s international peace cooperation, which was held on Saturday, 28 January 2023 Japan standard time.
Professor HOSHINO Toshiya, Councilor of the Kyoto Peace Center and frequent participant of the GPAJ seminars, was appointed as a member of the United Nations Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) on 20 December 2022. He served as Japan`s Ambassador to the United Nations from 2017 to 2020. As he started his work with JIU in January 2023, he said that while the existence of the United Nations is being tested, based on his experience in academic research on the United Nations system and the practical work of United Nations diplomacy. He would also carry out his duties without prejudice and from a fair and neutral standpoint while working hard to make appropriate analyses, evaluations, and proposals, envisioning the ideal United Nations system in the new era.
Members of the Global Peacebuilding Association of Japan had a year-end lunch in Hiroo, Shibuya City in Tokyo on December 28 and visited a temple, Showin-Ji.
The Hasegawa Seminar Alumni Reunion was held on Saturday, December 17, 2022, starting at the residence of Professor Sukehiro Hasegawa at 15:30 hours and at Ebisu at 18:00 hours.
Dr. Ponzio explained the significance of the Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s Our Common Agenda (OCA) report issued in 2021. He identified major goals for addressing global governance challenges, notably conflict prevention and management for building peace, COVID-19, representation, and human rights promotion, climate action and governing the global commons, promoting a collaborative economy and global public goods, and confronting the implications from rapid development of AI technology. Please view the video recording.
Merry Christmas from Corinne, Sofie and Cedric Werberich, joined by Anita and Suki in Germany.
Tokyo Peacebuilding Forum 2022 held on 6 November 2022: Keynote Speaker: Professor Tshilidzi MARWALA, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, University of Johannesburg and United Nations University Rector-Designate spoke about technology and interstate conflict. Please view the video recording.
Mr. KANO Takehiro, Director-General of the International Peace Cooperation Headquarters, Cabinet Office of the Government of Japan, met with Professor HASEGAWA Sukehiro and discussed the current and future directions of Japan`s international peace cooperation activities.
The second session of the Tokyo Peacebuilding Forum 2022 was held to make a “Critical assessment of Japan’s policy on refugees and migrants”. Mr. Ken Inoue, Vice President of GPAJ, moderated the session, and Mr. Akio Nakayama, former Country Director, IOM Myanmar, and Ms. Khadiza Begum, Area coordinator of “Online learning support for Rohingya children in Tatebayashi City”. Please read more in detail.
In Phnom Penh, ASEAN admitted Timor-Leste today “in principle…
The Global Peacebuilding Association of Japan with the support of the ACUNS Tokyo Liaison Office and the Kyoto Peacebuilding Center will hold the Tokyo Peacebuilding Forum 2022 on 5 November 2022. Please click here and ascertain the final version of the program and the location of the JICA conference hall in Ichigaya, Tokyo.
Timorese government officials visited Former Special Representative of the Secretary-General to Timor-Leste Hasegawa and briefed him about the economic and social situation in the country. They stressed the need to develop alternative economy as the country cannot depend on the petroleum resources forever. Seen in this photo are from right Mr. Hernani Soares, General Director for Administration and Finance of the Ministry of High Education, Science and Culture, Commissioner Antonio Freitas of the Civil Service Commission and Agostinho Letencio de Deus, Director General of the National Institute of Public Administration (INAP). Reported by Masakuni Tanimoto Secretary-General of the Global Peacebuilding Association of Japan.
The Global Governance Promotion Committee (chaired by Sukehiro Hasegawa) and the United Nations Reform Subcommittee (chaired by Takahiro Shinyo), which is a subordinate body of the Diet Committee for World Federalist Movements (Chairman Seishiro Eto and Secretary General Masaharu Nakagawa), held an information exchange meeting on “United Nations Security Council Reform” at the House of Representatives members’ meeting room on 6 October 2022. It was attended by more than 15 parliamentarians and several participants from government and civil society organizations. From the GPAJ Association, in addition to President Hasegawa and Ambassador Takahiro Shinyo, Ambassador Tadamichi Yamamoto and Professor Takaaki Mizuno attended. Click here for details.(Reported by Tanimoto)
The Security Council reform process took its new turn as Japanese Prime Minister Fumiko Kishida urged on 20 September the starting of negotiation based on draft papers and US President supported on 21 September the idea of increasing the number of both permanent and non-permanent members in the reform Council. Please click here for their statements.
The International Day of Peace is observed in Tokyo on 21 September and the Peace Bell Ceremony was held at Meiji Jingu Shrine with the attendance of Governor Yuriko KOIKE of the Tokyo Metropolitan City who expressed her appreciation of the significance of holding it in Tokyo. Professor Sukehiro HASEGAWA, Chair of the Organizing Committee noted in his opening remarks that “achieving peace rests with the spirit of respecting and accommodating each other`s differences.”
Professor Takahiro SHINYO of Kwansei Gakuin University and Professor Toshiya HOSHINO of Osaka University, who have served as Japanese Ambassadors to the United Nations, participated in the panel discussions on United Nations Security Council Reform organized by the Turkish Embassy in Tokyo on September 8. Professor SHINYO proposed to create 6 to 8 semi-permanent members or longer-term non-permanent members with renewable terms of 4-8 years that allows for their re-election. Professor HOSHINO suggested that the resolution stipulating the expansion of the Security council members be submitted to the General Assembly by the end of 2023 for its adoption by September 2025 marking the 60th anniversary of the previous expansion of the non-permanent members of the Security Council in 1965. Please click here to view the details of the proposal for realistic reform of the UN Security Council.
Ambassador Zelayandia presented her views on the causes and implications of the civil war which started in El Salvador with the assassination of the archbishop Óscar Romero in March 1980. Please click here for details of their views.
Triangular partnerships are now part of the backbone of United Nations peacekeeping. This was Mr. Ito’s central message during his participation at a recent GPAJ seminar “Japan’s International Peace Cooperation: Past, Present, and Future.” His remarks focused on the growth and benefits of the UN Triangular Partnership Programme (TPP), as well as Japan’s contributions to peacekeeping operations through TPP.
The TPP, which brings together the UN Secretariat, Troop- and Police-Contributing Countries (T/PCCs), and Member States with needed expertise and resources, started out as an engineering training project in East Africa in 2015. Now, seven years later, it has evolved and expanded into a comprehensive training and capacity-building programme, diverse in its themes and regions of operation. This shift is largely due to the growing recognition that TPP is much more than “investments” in the potential deployment of T/PCCs. Rather, they are “enablers” that support T/PCCs to deploy better-trained units and maximize impact in missions.
