3. Peacebuilding News

According to UN News, the President of the General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid, announced on Friday, 9 June that Japan along with Ecuador, Malta, Mozambique, and Switzerland had been elected to serve as non-permanent members of the UN Security Council for the period of two years from January 2023 to December 2024 by votes cast by the members of the General Assembly. (Photo: NEWS. UN. ORG)

United Nations Under-Secretary-General Atul Khare visited Japan and exchanged his views on Japan`s international peace cooperation activities with members of the Diet of Japan in Tokyo on 16 May. He made his lectures at the Kwansei Gakuin University and the Kyoto University of the Arts on 19 May. Please click here for the full texts of his speeches.

According to OCHA, more than 870,000 people who fled abroad since the Russian invasion on 24 February, have now returned to Ukraine, amid concerns about deteriorating food security inside the country. (Photo: UNICEF/Julia Kochetova)

Please click here for a full report in English which was compiled by Maciej Witek.

Please click here for the UNDP video.

UN Secretary-General`s Special Envoy for Myanmar Christine Bergner met with Yasushi AKASHI (Former SRSG for Cambodia, former Yugoslavia) Sukehiro HASEGAWA (Former SRSG for Timor-Leste) Tadamichi YAMAMOTO (Former SRSG for Afghanistan) at the Kyoto International Peacebuilding Center on the Tokyo Gaien Campus on May 26, 2021. Former Japanese Ambassadors to the United Nations, Kenzo OSHIMA, Takahiro SNINYO and Toshiya HOSHINO also participated in the meeting along with Mr. Takahiro NIWA, Chairman of the Council of the Kyoto International Peacebuilding Center.

The UN General Assembly calls upon Myanmar to swiftly implement the five-point consensus reached at the Leaders’ Meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations held on 24 April 2021 to facilitate a peaceful solution in the interest of the people of Myanmar and their livelihoods, and to that end calls upon all stakeholders in Myanmar to cooperate with the Association and the Special Envoy of the Chair of the Association, and expresses its support for these efforts.

During his online conversation with Japanese diplomats and scholars, former President and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate José Ramos-Horta　praised Japan for upholding the principle of democratic governance. He was referring to the resolution passed by the Lower House on June 8, 2021, which condemned the coup d’état staged by the Myanmar military. The resolution, adopted by a majority vote in the Lower House, demanded early restoration of democratic governance in Myanmar.

Here is a proposal by 3 former Japanese Special Representatives of the Secretary-General of the United Nation and 3 former Japanese Ambassadors to the United Nations. Please click here for the full text that appeared in the Japan Times.