More than six months have passed since Mr. Kit Kitatani passed away. I recently met Mrs Akiko Kitatani. She is over 90 years old but very healthy, speak clearly and walk well. Please join me in wishing her continued good health and happiness throughout New Year 2019.
GPAJ board members joined a year-end party (28/12/2018)
A year-end party was held at the French restaurant, Les Cristalline in Aoyama, Tokyo. In addition to the memories of the events that took place this year, the participants talked about how to move forward next year in the meeting of the Board of Directors on February 9.
At the Peacebuilding Forum Tokyo 2018 held in Tokyo on December 8, former UN Under-Secretary-General Yasushi Akashi delivers opening remarks. (08/12/2018)
Mr. Yasushi Akashi looked at how the UN peace operations had evolved over the years in Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa and pointed out the need to ascertain how Japan can contribute to the UN peace operations in the future. Mr. Akashi served as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Cambodia and in the former Yugoslavia.
[2018 Tokyo Peacebuilding Forum] Photo Album (08/12/2018)
2018 Tokyo Peacebuilding Forum was held at JICA Ichigaya Building on December 8, 2018. It was opened by former Under-Secretary-General and Special Representatives of the Secretary-General Mr. Yasushi Akashi and keynote speech was delivered by Ambassador Fumio Iwai, Secretary-General of the Secretariat of the International Peace Cooperation Headquarters of the Cabinet Office of the Government of Japan. Please find the program with pictures of meetings and participants.
Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan explains the importance of sports in resolving conflicts and building peace (01/12/2018)
HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Generations for Peace met with GPAJ President Sukehiro Hasegawa, Vice President Mio Sato and Secretary General Masakuni Tanimoto and explained the activities of the Generation for Peace (GFP) since it was founded as a peace-through-sport initiative of the Jordan Olympic Committee in 2007.
Ken Inoue of GPAJ makes a presentation in ASEAN Regional Forum workshop on preventive diplomacy. (29/11/2018)
Four principles of co-existence, namely non-violence, respect for diversity, sharing and caring, and mutual cooperation were presented by Mr. Ken Inoue of the Global Peacebuilding Association of Japan.
Fact-Finding in Preventive Diplomacy: Intra- and Extra-Regional Cooperation proposed by Naoko Kumagai at ASEAN Regional Forum (29/11/2018)
Naoko Kumagai, Associate Professor of International University of Japan, found fact-finding is indispensable for the reinforcement of confidence building and useful for preventive diplomacy measures, in particular early warning and mediation.
UN Justice Officials wanted General Wiranto tried for Crime of Humanity, while the Timorese leaders wanted Reconciliation with Indonesians (29/11/2018)
At the ASEAN Regional Forum held in Nanjing, China, GPAJ President explained that the UN had pursued retributive justice while Timor-Leste preferred restorative justice and reconciliation and friendship following establishment of truth.
At ASEAN regional forum meeting in China, Professor Takaaki Mizuno of Kanda University of International Studies asserted top leaders’ mutual visit as a model case of Preventive Diplomacy. (29/11/2018)
Mizuno considers China and Japan have managed potential risk of getting into the Thucydides trap so far and at least have taken tangible steps to build a minimum trust and mutual understanding by agreeing the resumption of visits by the leaders of both countries after a long hiatus.
Paris Peace Forum: Thank you, Dr. Richard J. Ponzio, for Joseph Schwartzberg`s book, Transforming the United Nations System. (13/11/2018)
Ponzio says: Between now and 2020 (the UN’s 75th anniversary), I am working with partner organizations to advance the recommendations of the Albright-Gambari Commission on Global Security, Justice & Governance, including in the areas of “coping with violent conflict & state fragility”, “climate & people”, “governing the hyperconnected global economy”, and “UN and broader global governance reforms.” For further details, please visit: https://www.stimson.org/programs/just-security-2020
Paris Peace Forum: Dr. Sharei, Executive Director of the Center for United Nations Constitutional Research explains the possibility of reviewing the UN Charter by resorting to Article 109, while Hasegawa calls for transformation of the global system just as the Japanese leaders transformed the governance structure of Japan during the Meiji Revolution. (12/11/2018)
Sharei and Hasegawa engaged in debate on how the Charter review process can be started, while Francisco Plancarte, a Mexican lawyer and long-time promoter of UN transformation according to Art. 109 called for the creation of a global parliament.
French President Emmanuel Macron joined by German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the Paris Peace Forum and called for international solidarity. (11/11/2018)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan, Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau along with several other heads of state and government listened as Merkel, Macron and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres spoke about the importance of the U.N. and other multilateral institutions to address global problems.
German-French Symposium held at Sophia University in Tokyo to commemorate the end of the First World War. (05/11/2018)
To commemorate the end of the War, Ambassadors of Germany and France, Dr Hans Carl von Werthern and Dr. Laurent PIC held a symposium on 5th November 2018 to discuss the war and its lessons for today’s politics.
[Tokyo Peacebuilding Forum 2019] Peacebuilding and Global Governance in a Turbulent World (02/11/2019)
This is the second meeting of the Tokyo Peacebuilding Forum following its inauguration in 2018. It is organized by the Global Peacebuilding Association of Japan (GPAJ) in cooperation with the ACUNS Tokyo Liaison Office. The purpose of the Tokyo Peacebuilding Forum is to enable the members of GPAJ and interested scholars and practitioners of UN peace operations to engage in dialogue concerning the relevance of theories, concepts, policies and practices. This year, the overall theme of the meeting is “Peacebuilding and Global Governance in a Turbulent Age.” The participants will have opportunities to present and comment on papers that are relevant to peacebuilding and global governance. The meeting will consist of a plenary session in the morning and several group discussion sessions in the afternoon. The subject matters for discussion are indicated in the program outline below. If there is a need for additional group discussions, it is possible to add one more discussion session in the afternoon as meetings rooms have been secured. The Tokyo Peacebuilding Forum is open to participation by interested persons from not only Japan but other countries in order to enable free exchange of divergent views. For this purpose, the plenary session in the morning and two of the group discussion sessions in the afternoon will be held in English. Summary records of the proceeding will be kept by the secretariat and posted on the website of the Global Peacebuilding Association of Japan (http://www.gpaj.org/) and the ACUNS Tokyo Liaison Office (http://www.acuns.tokyo/). You are welcome to participate in the Tokyo Peacebuilding Forum. Please note that the participants are expected to meet themselves the costs of their travel and accommodation as GPAJ has no funds to make available for this purpose. If you are interested in participating in the meeting, please send your message to secretariat[@]gpaj.org. Your message will be sent to the organizers/moderators of respective sessions.
UNDEF Deputy Executive Head Mikiko SAWANISHI stressed “democracy” is a universal value based on the freely expressed will of people to determine their political, economic, social and cultural systems as stated in the World Summit Outcome Document 2005. (01/11/2018)
Key points made during the discussion included the importance for UNDEF to sustain universal value, efficiency in execution of its programs and activities; to assist the institution building; to encourage local, national and regional ownership in democratization process. There was a consensus that Japan should support financially and technically the democratization process and sustaining democratic principles of governance.
Former Ambassador of Japan to the United Nations and now Distinguished Professor of the International Christian University Motohide Yoshikawa Holds a Special Seminar on UN peace operations. (23/10/2018)
Guest Speaker Professor Sukehiro Hasegawa interacted with a group of about 35 students and scholars of the ICU in Mitaka City, a northern part of the metropolitan Tokyo. Please click here for a summary of his presentation.
Diário de Notícias: “Devemos reconhecer a vontade da Indonésia de aceitar Timor porque podia ter sabotado a independência” (13/10/2018)
Entrevista a Sukehiro Hasegawa, que foi chefe da Missão das Nações Unidas em Timor, e esteve em Lisboa para uma conferência no IDN. Fala sobre crescer depois da Segunda Guerra Mundial e da importância da paz global.
Visit to Padrão dos Descobrimentos in Lisbon (11/10/2018)
My dear friend, Mr. Victor Angelo, took me and my wife to this impressive monument on the edge of the river leading to the Atlantic Ocean. It is dedicated to the 15th to 16th century Age of Discovery when Portuguese explorers set out across the oceans to seek the New World. They took one hundred years before they finally reached Japan in 1543. Please click here for detail.