Koji Sakane, JICA Senior Director for Peacebuilding and Reconstruction made a presentation on current progress and challenges on “Triple Nexus”, which is the conceptual framework of connecting “Peace” with traditional “Humanitarian and Development Nexus”, and challenges for achieving “Sustaining Peace”.
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.
Visiting Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai called upon Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other world leaders to promote more the empowerment of women through education and financial support.
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
NHK reported that Finland maintained its top position for the second consecutive year in the 2019 edition of the World Happiness Ranking and that Japan was downgraded 4 ranks to 58th. “Happiness” reflects a subjective feeling of people, and it does not reflect Japan’s such a low status in happiness. Japan should question the intention of the producer of the indicator. It is inappropriate use of indicators or the theme. The indicator “development” seems more appropriate than “happiness” of a nation.
Yamazaki suggests three shifts in the Japanese co-operation approach: (1) provision of advisory policy services to meet emerging needs of middle income countries (MICs); (2) an integrated approach to new MICs which are still Least Developed Countries (LDCs), recognizing that their development gains are still fragile and vulnerable to shocks; and (3) sharing of Japanese experience with countries still in the “demographic bonus” period to prepare for a future graying population, all with an aim to institutionalizing their social policy, laws and practices.
An international group of MPs calls for a body to strengthen the democratic representation of the world’s citizens in global affairs and the UN’s decision-making, reports The Guardian, 6 March 2019.
On the 28 February 2019 Canadian Journalist Judi Rever made a presentation of her book suggesting that systematic killings of Hutus had been carried out by the Rwandan Patriotic Front during and after what is known to the international community as the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. Her claims provoked a vivid debate among the participants of the round table.
At the conference held on “the Future of the United Nations” at JGU, GPAJ President Hasegawa made a keynote speech on the implications of the Meiji Restoration for the future of the United Nations.
Virendra Dayal, former Chef de Cabinet to the UN Secretary General said, “The UN must address many challenges faced by the world, including forced displacement, hunger, inequality, trade disputes, increasing debt burden and danger to media freedom,” while former UN Special Representative Hasegawa spoke about the significance of Gandhian non-violence and Meiji Revolution in Japan and recommended the re-composition of the Security Council.