Twenty seven UN staff and professionals from Japan and five other countries engaged in peace, humanitarian and development assistance enhanced their communication and leadership competencies in multidisciplinary peace operations.
On 9 January, the first meeting of the Earth Charter Committee of Japan was held under the chairmanship of Former Environment Minister Madame Wakako Hironaka. The Committee received a briefing about the outcome of COP21 held in Paris in 2015 by Ms. Masako Konishi, Conservation Officer, Climate Change Programme, World, WWF Japan. The annual board meeting was followed by an informal dinner.
JCK Youth Forum students met with Professor Hasegawa and Ms. Kumi Kim of the UN Association of Japan and discussed the program and logistical arrangements for the Fukuoka Youth Forum to be held in September 2016.
At the invitation of Professor Yasushi Katsuma, Dean, International Studies Program, Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies (GSAPS) and Professor Mariko Shoji of Keiai University, Professor Hasegawa identified policy aspirations and realities on the ground in UN peace operations. Please click here for a summary of his lecture.
Organized by Ms. Bomi Kwon, a group of JCK forum meetings held a dinner party at a Korean restaurant Sonamu (소나무) in Ebisu, Tokyo. Joined by Professor Hasegawa, former and current students came and enjoyed their get-together.
2015 JCK leaders including Hiroto Kiyozumi, Bomi Kwon, Eriko Kawashima, Kiyomi Ikenoue, Ayaka Mae and 2016 JCK leaders, Akihide Toda, Kana Horibe, Hirotaka Koike, Hideaki Tonoike, were joined by Misato Nagakawa and Ataka Goto, former JCK leaders. They discussed with Professor Hasegawa how to plan and implement the JCK Youth Forum in Fukuoka in June 2016.
The “denuclearization of DPRK first” approach has brought nothing but stagnation of negotiation for long time.
On 19 October 2015, Dr. Alistair Edgar, Executive Director of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) spoke at the University of Tokyo if the UN was still Fit for Peace and Security Governance.
In his speech at the Australian National University, Minister Agio Pereira explained the significance of colonial legacy that led to the birth of independent sovereign state of Timor-Leste. Click here for a full text of his speech.
Dr. Kazuo Takahashi, Former Professor, International Christian University, Tokyo, points out the emergence of a twin structure of development cooperation, i.e. the traditional Bretton Woods-DAC regime and a new system consisting of the AIIB, the New Development Bank and the Chinese bilateral cooperation system.
Uchida endorses Kofi Annan and The Elders’ proposal to include a new category of semi-permanent membership in the Security Council representing a modified Model B proposed by the 2004 High-Level Panel on New Threats, Challenges and Change. Please click here for the full text of Uchida’s paper.
At a book launching event, hosted by UN University Library on 23 October 2015, Dr. Daisaku Higashi, Associate Professor in the University of Tokyo, presented his analysis of the challenges faced in establishing legitimate governments in post-conflict states and examined the cases of Afghanistan, Iraq, Sierra Leone, and East Timor.
At the trilateral conference in Shanghai, Professor Hasegawa called for Chinese and Korean leaders to be magnanimous and forgive Japan as much as the Japanese leaders have admitted and apologized for what Japan did to China and Korea before and during World War II in order to achieve reconciliation.
LIU Zhixian, Vice President and Director-General of UNA-China and Secretary General of CANUNS pointed out the international community expected more from the East Asian Community to provide East Asian perspectives and approaches to regional and global problems.
In his keynote speech at the 15th East Asian Seminar on the UN system, Jiemian YANG, President Emeritus, Shanghai Institutes for Int’l Studies noted the need for East Asia to build up more consensus on the future orientations of their partnerships of regional and global governance. Click here for the full text of his speech.
The academic councils of the three Northeast Asian countries, the China Academic Net for United Nations Studies (CANUNS), the Japan Association for United Nations Studies (JAUNS) and the Korea Academic Council on the United Nations System (KACUNS) met and discussed global and regional peace and security issues along with sustainable development and human rights. Please click here for the full story and program.
Mr. Michael Emery, a key member of the UN Inter-agency Outreach Missions to Japan, says the UN is determined to increase Japan`s representation and points to the importance of Japanese applicants having “soft” as well as “hard” competencies and a second UN language including French, Spanish or Arabic, in addition to English to enhance employment chances in the United Nations.
In his article contributed to the Japan Times, Professor Ramesh Thakur of the Australian National University postulates that Russian President Vladmir Putin has challenged the notion that the West is the chosen ruler of the world and the US President is one who must be obeyed. Please click here for the full text of Professor Ramesh Thakur.
At the UN General Assembly on 29 September 2015, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stressed his intention to provide financial and technical assistance for Syrian refugees. On the previous day, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China would expand its engagement with the UN and send 8,000 troops as part of the UN peacekeeping forces. Korean President Park Geun-hye urged the international community to focus on resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.
On September 17 at JCK Youth Forum, Professors Jieun Park of UNA-ROK and Sukehiro Hasegawa of UNA-Japan and Ms. Li Xueyao of UNA-China listened to JCK students make presentations of their discussions on lessons learned from history, climate change and humanitarian assistance. Please click here about what the Japanese students said. (Hiroto Kiyozumi)