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.

Following the presentation of French Ambassador Laurent PIC on the role of France in UN peace operations made at the Tokyo Peacebuilding Forum 2019, the author of Radical Islam and New Imperial Order views radical Islam and the terrorism associated with it as the dark side of the Western world and warns France and the UN about the risk of becoming stuck in a dead-end conflict in Mali.

Thirteen Japanese scholars participated in the trilateral annual meeting of UN academic associations of China, Japan and Korea held in Seoul. They are shown in the photo: From left to right: TAMAI , Masataka（玉井雅隆）FUJII, Hiroshige（藤井広重）HADANO, Takamitsu（秦野貴光）KARUBE, Keiko （軽部恵子）KUKITA, Jun（久木田純）TAKAHASHI, Kazuo（高橋一生）SHOJI , Mariko（庄司真理子）HASEGAWA, Sukehiro（長谷川祐弘）KIHARA-HUNT, Ai（キハラハント愛）KATSUMA,Yasushi（勝間靖）KULNAZAROVA, Aigul（クルナザロバ・アイグル) KUSHIMA, Shinichi（九島伸一）and INOMATA, Tadanori（猪又忠徳）.

Please click here for her speech.

Professor Min WANG is teaching at Hosei University Center for International Japan-Studies.

The second meeting of the Global Governance Commission Sub-Committee on UN Reform chaired by Professor Takahiro SHINYO was joined by three members of the Diet of Japan. They were Mr. Masaharu NAKAWAGA, former Minister of Education, Mr. Masahiko SHIBAYAMA, former Special Assistant to Prime Minister Shinzo ABE on UN peace operations and former Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and Mr. Akira SATO, Member of the House of Representatives and former Senior Vice Minister of Defense. The meeting was also participated by scholars and experts including Professor Yasuhiro UEKI of Sophia University who was a United Nations Spokesman and an international expert on UN reform matters, Dr, Vesselin POPOVSKI, Professor and Vice Dean, Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University, Haryana, India. (This summary report was filed by Fujiko Amano, Maja Liechti and Amishi Agrawal)

Grand Master Sen Zenshu held a demonstration tea ceremony and explained its significance including the basic philosophy of Sado based on its principle of four forms: “Wa, Kei, Sei, Jyaku”. He explained the philosophy developed by the founder of the way of tea, or chado, SEN no RIKYU (1522-91), who perfected the style of chanoyu based on the wabi aesthetic and elevated chanoyu into the way of tea aimed at purifying the atmosphere to harmonize the relationship between the host and guest.

The event was hosted by President Genshitsu Sen, Urasenke Grand Master of Japanese Tea School, and participated by Vice President Yasushi AKASHI, Former UN Under-Secretary-General, Board Director Momoyo ISE, Executive Director for Academic Exchange Sukehiro Hasegawa, and Board Member and Vice President of Sophia University Miki SUGIMURA of UN Association of Japan. Also participated are Deputy Director-General Wang Ying and Program Officer You Bai Shun of UN Association of China; and Acting President and Ambassador Ho-Jin Lee, and three Vice Presidents of UN Association of the Republic of Korea, Former Ambassador to the Netherlands Jong-moo Choi, Vice, President of the Korea Institute for Maritime Strategy Seo-Hang Lee and Professor Heung-soon Park, Former President of the Korean Academic Council on the United Nations and Member of the Board of Academic Council on the UN System (ACUNS).

Head of Teheran Liaison Office of UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and his wife, Sora 空, and three children , Misora 美空, Meiwa 明空 and Eito 英飛、visited Japan and had lunch at IVY Place in Daikanyama, Shibuya. Hideo was one of SRSG Hasegawa`s assistant in Timor-Leste and has since served in South Sudan and Afghanistan.

UN Association of Japan held Model UN sessions and preparatory lectures and discussions conducted by Vice President Yasushi Akashi, Professors Akio Takahara of University of Tokyo, Takaaki Mizuno of Kanda University, Miki Sugimura of Sophia University and Hiroko Akizuki of Asia University. Model UN sessions were organized by students from the Tokyo International University (Reported by Moe Hino).

Following the 9-day training and meetings organized by the Center for UN Constitutional Research (CUNCR) in Brussels on the 19th and 20th of July, young activists held the conferences from the 22nd to the 26th first in Corfu and then in Epirus where parliamentarians and academics joined young activists in adopting the “Declaration of Epirus.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the launch of the United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech, in New York today.

From left to right, granddaughter Sofie, son in law Ralf, grandson Cedric, daughter Corinne, Anita and Sukehiro.

According to the 2019 Global Peace Index provided by the Institute of Economics and Peace, Iceland is No.1, while Japan 9th and United States, 128th. IEP is headquartered in Sydney, with offices in New York, The Hague, Mexico City, Brussels and Harare. It provides a snapshot of the global state of peacefulness among 164 countries. For more information visit www.economicsandpeace.org