2019 Seminars and Events

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)

In his opening remarks of the Global Governance Promotion Committee’s opinion exchange meeting held on September 18, 2019 at the Office Building of the Members of the House of Representatives, Mr. Masaharu Nakagawa, the Secretary-General of the World Federation of Japan’s Diet Committee and member of the House of Representatives, said he was looking for a proposal that could be pursued towards the realization of federalist ideals. He suggested the desire to further develop this Federation of Legislators as one of the mainstream options in Japan. For that purpose, he wished to harness the wisdom of top Japanese leaders and found the significance of holding consultation meetings. Climate change which is inducing the emergence of typhoons, crops damages with adverse impact on food security, changes in ocean currents, etc. must be assessed on a global scale, as well as disarmament and monetary policy that are today’s challenges He stressed the need to examine the respective issues from global perspectives. And disarmament which is the subject of today discussion, and monetary policy has to be considered for global implications. He expressed the view that the basics such as the current economic balance has collapsed. There are many urgent issues for humankind that the countries of the world must deal with in any way, but there is a sense of crisis regarding the politics running in the nationalistic direction in the countries of the world. The political parties that have advocated the middle of the road approach have lost in recent elections. In such a situation, he hoped that this Japan Commission of Global Governance would be successful so that information can be sent out from Japan with a view to the state of humankind in 20-30 years ahead. He said he would like to hear the opinions of the attendees reflecting not only their academic but also political perspectives.

East Asian Scholars and Practitioners exchanged their views with officials of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva Peacebuilding Platform and Future of UN Development System.

East Asian Scholars and Practitioners visited World Intellectual Organization (WIPO), Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and World Trade Organization (WTO) and held dialogue with their senior officials.

10:00 Opening Session Director-General H.E. Ms. Tatiana Valovaya, UN O…

Keynote Lecture was delivered by Takahiro SHINYO, Professor of Kwansei Gakuin University and Former Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations in New York; Panel Discussants were Professor Kiyotaka KAWABATA of Fukuoka Women’s University and Ms. Chikako HIROSE, former director of the United Nations Center for Regional Development in Nagoya.

Former Ambassadors Iwao KITAHARA and Yoshitaka HANADA joined in the lively discussions. (Reported by Taketo Yamaguchi)

Chief JICA Researcher Hiroaki Shiga explains how the compromises have been made concerning the land reform in South Africa since the African National Congress took over power in 1991 (Reported by Fujiko Amano)

　In his presentation to Japanese staff at UN Headquarters, Mr. Hasegaw…