2019 News

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.

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

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

According to UN Information Centre, the Secretary-General will depart New York on June 26 and visit Osaka, Japan, where he will attend the G20 Summit. He will speak at a session on climate change, environment and energy, and will participate in sessions on topics including the global economy, innovation and inequalities. He will also take part in a leaders’ side event on women’s empowerment.

In his keynote speech, Ramos-Horta pays tribute to Timorese Leader Xanana Gusmão and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for having averted the clash of national interest by following their own conscience and doing the right thing to settle the maritime boundary disputes. Ramos-Horta also shows compliments Indonesia and India for holding free, fair and credible elections. Click here for his speech.

Today is the day UN United Volunteer Atsuhito Nakata and his colleague Lek Sophiep were killed on April 8, 1993. They were working together to build peace and democracy in Cambodia. In a world where nationalism is pervasive, we should reaffirm our understanding that humanity as a whole should achieve and sustain peace and democracy.

Mr. Bill Jackson, who was Director of External Relations, stated on the anniversary of the death of UNV Atsuhito Nakata that UNV as a whole were very grateful for Mr. Takehito Nakata`s philosophical acceptance of his son’s death, and his willingness to take up the new role of following his son’s work, whereas one could have expected a more hostile reaction from parents.

Siddharth Chatterjee suggests the blue economy can offer a range of African solutions to African economic problems. He says Africa can learn and benefit from Japan as Japan is essentially a Blue economy.

In the Special Issue of Global Policy, 2019. Knowledge and Politics in Setting and Measuring SDGs. Professor Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Professor and Director at the Studley Programs in International Affairs at The New School in New York, and Desmond McNeill of the University of Oslo point out the working of knowledge and politics in setting and measuring the SDGs and danger for too much reliance on indicators that can distort social norms, frame hegemonic discourses, and reinforce power hierarchies. 14 articles and 10 commentaries in the special issue is freely accessible by the following website: https://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/journal-issue/special-issue-knowledge-and-politics-setting-and-measuring-sdgs