Nine candidates are Fikolp AMANO (Japan), Ken INOUE (Japan), Motoo NOGUCHI (Japan), Elizabeth GAMARRA (USA), Yasuyoshi KOMIZO (Japan), Dahlia SIMANGAN (Philippines), Arbenita SOPAJ (Kosovo), Tomokiyo TANAKA (Japan) and Guihong ZHANG (China). Five of them will be elected at the extraordinary meeting of the General Assembly on June 22.
It has been a tremendous pleasure working with you. My name is Fujiko Amano, and I am a lawyer with 20 years of experience, including diplomatic positions at UNODC (Uzbekistan) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I am currently a Legal Head for North Asia at an US IT company called Rimini Street. I joined GPAJ more than 5 years ago, and since 2019, I have been serving as Chief of Conference Proceedings at GPAJ’s Secretariat. It is my great honor to be nominated for the directorship of this phenomenal organization. If elected, I will aspire to contribute, including as follows: (1) Human Resource Sustainability: having completed four of the MOFA and Hiroshima Peacebuilders Center’s Peacebuilding training programs, I would like to further solidify GPAJ’s focus on human resource development and inspire younger generations with GPAJ’s initiatives, aiming to secure sustainable future human resource in Peacebuilding; (2) Private Sector Integration: based on my stakeholder management and business engagement skills gained through bridging the public and private sectors, I wish to further integrate the private sector into GPAJ’s activities and foster more alignment, support and cooperation for Peacebuilding initiatives; and (3) Digitalization Outreach and Advocacy: as a business leader and an expert in digitalization and IT innovation, I would like to contribute my industry knowledge and expertise to promote GPA’s Peacebuilding initiatives for digitalization and IT innovation, which are now compelled to be considered and developed due to the global situation of “with or after COVID19.” Thank you for your consideration!
My name is Elizabeth GAMARRA. The three pillars of my campaign include: 1) diversify our membership 2) enhance the international visibility of GPAJ, and 3) strengthen the scholarly work of our association. I got involved with GPAJ a year ago, and I see great potential in this association. I have double masters in social work and peace studies in Japan and the U.S. For the past 10 years, I have founded and led the NGO, “Generations of Latinos,” a platform to empower young students of color to develop mediation skills, under the motto, “you can’t win any type of mediation until you how to write the other person’s victory speech” aligning well with peacebuilding basics. My efforts through GOL has been recognized by TEDx, the Martin Luther King Drum Major Award, the Outstanding Young Philanthropy Award, and most recently, the Alkin Aloware Award among others. I have also worked for Amnesty International USA as an Activist Coordinator, Fulbright Scholar at IE University, Research Fellow at the Center for Research on Migration and Refugee Integration, and for the Oxford University’s Human Rights Consortium in England, Switzerland, and Greece. Before this, I worked as a therapist for the Neuropsychiatric Hospital and the Urban Indian Center with veteran, indigenous and refugee communities permitting me to sit on the Tanner Center for Human Rights Board and the Pax Natura International Board of Trustees. I started University at the age of 15 permitting me to engage in peacebuilding efforts early on in my life. Thus, I am confident my energy, vision and my interdisciplinary background will enrich GPAJ.
I am Ken Inoue, a candidate of Director of GPAJ. Please check my profile on GPAJ’s homepage (http://www.gpaj.org/activities/members/inoue-ken). I have been working with the UN and the government agencies for more than 35 years in the fields of development cooperation, humanitarian assistance and peacebuilding. I am specialized especially in UN peace operations and democratic governance. I was Chief Governance Advisor of the UN PKO in Timor-Leste and Senior Advisor on Democratic Governance of JICA. I was supporting GPAJ as Auditor for the last 4 years. Now, I would like to introduce more action-orientated activities to GPAJ by focusing on “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. Together with you, I would like to make this global community a little better. If you can support my vision, please vote for me!
I am Yasuyoshi KOMIZO. Since mid-1980s, I have worked extensively in the field of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation in Japanese government, international organization (International Atomic Energy Agency) and from the platform of civil society (mainly in Hiroshima Peace Culture foundation and Mayors for Peace). Throughout my efforts in the field, I have placed high value on the power of dialogue. Unity in diversity: I value highly of diversity and have consistently strived to understand the differences to find and create common value and common goals among different group of people as the most important basis of settling problems for all.
Most pressing global issues of nuclear weapons risks and climate change as well as present danger of pandemic have common underlying challenge. That is whether or not global community can work together transcending different individual interests. In order to realize a world without nuclear weapons, leadership of policy makers (especially the top leaders of nuclear weapons holding states) and close collaboration of diverse civil society partners are essential.
In the activities of Global Peacebuilding Association of Japan, it would be my privilege and pleasure if I could contribute to it from my basic approach of dialogue, treasuring diversity and to find common ground among different group of people.
Hello, everyone. Let me briefly introduce myself. My name is Motoo NOGUCHI, applying for the position of Board members nominated. I became a member of the GPAJ as I retired from the Government services this March and started private practice as a lawyer. During my 35 years with the Government, I was primarily at the Ministry of Justice as prosecutor, but I also had various opportunities to engage issues related to peacebuilding, development assistance, and the rule of law. These include my work at the Ministry of Justice (legal technical assistance to Asian countries in transition, and as professor of UNAFEI=United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders); Asian Development Bank (technical assistance to developing member countries on law and development); the United Nations (UN International Judge for the Khmer Rouge Trials in Cambodia); International Criminal Court (Chair of the Board of Directors, The Trust Fund for Victims, and a member of the Panel of Experts for the Committee on the Election of the Prosecutor); Ministry of Foreign Affairs (bilateral advisor to the Government of Sri Lanka in its efforts for national reconciliation, and as Ambassador for International Judicial Cooperation). In recent years, I was also involved in some activities to educate young people who are interested in these areas through lectures in universities and publications. It would be my honor if I could utilize my experience, expertise, and professional network to further advance the mission of the GPAJ.
Hello, fellow GPAJ members. My name is Dahlia, and I am happy to accept the nomination for the Board of Directors. I am originally from the Philippines, but I consider myself a global citizen, having lived and studied in other countries. I got to know GPAJ when I was a JSPS postdoctoral fellow at the United Nations University in Tokyo. For a non-Japanese and early career researcher like me, establishing professional and research networks was a challenge until I became a member of GPAJ. I’m grateful to GPAJ for continuously providing an enriching platform for peacebuilding practitioners and scholars in Japan and beyond. I’m excited to extend the same warmth I received from GPAJ to its future members.
As a potential board member, I am committed to contributing my time and skills to the research and outreach objectives of GPAJ. In addition to my regular duties, I plan to focus on expanding our network by engaging further with Japan-based international students, researchers, and practitioners. This engagement can be done through (1) a stronger social media presence, (2) information sharing through alternative platforms, such as regular podcasts and webinars, and (3) enhancing GPAJ activities through partnership with members’ affiliated universities or institutions. I am confident that GPAJ’s existing inter-institutional and inter-disciplinary profile will enable the fulfillment of this plan.
Thank you for your attention, and I look forward to meeting you all in future GPAJ activities.
Greetings to everyone. I’m Arbenita, a regular member of GPAJ. I’m pleased to join the campaign nomination for the position of Board members. Having attended last year’s conference of GPAJ in Tokyo made me curious to know more about the work that the Association does along with all the members.
I have completed double bachelor and master’s specialized for Central and Eastern European Countries and Political Science. I’m doing Ph.D. studies in Kobe at the same time working as a Teaching Assistant. Coming from a post-conflict country (Kosovo) I have been always keen to interact and work in peaceful matters, therefore my career has been mostly focused on UN- interventions and decision-making tasks. I have been chairing various conferences in Europe and Japan that are focused on UN work. If I get the opportunity to get elected for the Board members, I would like to work towards three essential tasks that I think are needed for GPAJ in a global context:
1. Cooperation with NGO’s
2. Enlargement of GPAJ
3. GPAJ as a knowledge provider
Witnessing the complications that it impacts us directly and indirectly, there is extensive work required from young generations along with experts in related fields as one of the most complex and sensitive areas. I believe that as a unity we can bring the changes we think are adequate for a more prosperous future.
会員の皆様。本来であれば直接ご挨拶すべきところ、書中にて甚だ失礼ながらご挨拶申し上げます。このたび、理事に立候補させていただくことになりました田中朋清と申します。大変有難いことに昨年７月、尊敬する長谷川祐弘理事長と、長年の友人である谷本真邦事務局長よりお誘い頂き入会いたしました。私は現在、石清水八幡宮権宮司（2013～）、世界連邦日本宗教委員会事務局長（2005～）、京都芸術大学客員教授 兼 SDGs推進室長（2018～）、京都大学こころの未来研究センター共同研究員（2017～）、京都産業大学日本文化研究所客員研究員（2017～）、ACUNS会員（2019～）として、日本文化に内在する持続可能な価値観研究を活かした多様性ある平和共生社会の構築に向けた実践活動並びに研究活動に積極的に取り組んでおります。
情熱と行動力、幅広い人的ネットワークを活かして、本会の更なる発展と平和構築のためにお役に立ちたいと考えておりますので、宜しくお願い申し上げます。
It has been my great pleasure to be your colleague since I joined GPAJ three years ago. My name is Guihong Zhang, and I am currently a professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, serving as Director of Center for United Nations Studies and International Organizations Studies as well as Secretary-General of Shanghai United Nations Research Association. It is indeed my great honor to be nominated for the membership of GPAJ’s Director of Board. If elected, I will do my best to contribute from the ways as follows: (1) Global outreach: as a scholar of international studies, I have rich experience of study abroad and close contact with experts in U.S., Europe, and Africa, besides of Asia. I would like to help GPAJ to be more “global” with my efforts; (2) Peacebuilding study: as a scholar of UN studies, I deeply feel that peacebuilding study is so important and has great potential in China and world at large. I wish to make use of this new possible position to promote cooperation between China and Japan on peacebuilding study and practices; (3) Associate (Chinese) academia: as the first Chinese member of GPAJ, it is both my duty and priority to introduce more Chinese scholars and students to know and participate our activities. My small goal is that every year at least one qualified Chinese to join GPAJ. I appreciate your kind attention and consideration.
