Geneva Dialogue: Senior Legal Coordinator and Head of Protection Policy Madeline Garlick explains UNHCR role in Protection of Refugees (16/07/2018)

2018-07-16

According to Madeline Garlick, addressing challenges around protracted refugees, situation of conflict, finding solutions, responsibility sharing are key conditions for successful refugee protection. People fleeing from persecution should not be penalized for moving illegally. Click here for her full presentation and comments by Asian scholars.

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East Asian Scholars and Students Visit Disarmament Commission Chamber (16/07/2018)

2018-07-16

This former Chamber of the Council of the League of Nations is now used by the UN Disarmament Commission which was first created in 1952 but met rarely until 1978 when the first special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament established a successor Disarmament Commission as a subsidiary deliberative body of the Assembly, composed of all Member States of the United Nations.

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Concert and Democracy at Village Level in Switzerland (08/07/2018)

2018-07-08

In Switzerland, concerts are held in magnificent auditoriums but also outdoors for villagers to attend and hear. Here is one of the concerts just held in the town of Wadenswil I went yesterday. About 100 people came and, alas, most of them turned out to be more than 60 years old. It`s an aging society here just like Japan. But, Switzerland is accepting foreigners who now constitute more than 30 percent of the population.

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IOM’s Special Council Session elects Portugal’s Antonio Vitorino over Trump nominee as new IOM Director General. (29/06/2018)

2018-06-29

As IOM’s current Director General, William Lacy Swing, steps down after completing the second of two five-year terms, the Special Council`s decisive rejection of the American candidate, Ken Isaacs, in the first round of voting, signaled a growing number of nations are no longer prepared to indefinitely defer to the power of the United States when human rights and values are assaulted by the current US Administration.

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