Former Ambassador to South Sudan and currently Deputy Director-General for African Masahiko KIYA will make presentation on “Japan’s Support for Peacebuilding in South Sudan: A Perspective from the Ground” on 28 January 2018 at Tokyo University Komaba Campus.
Presentations were made by Prof. Katsumi Ishizuka of Kyoei University on Europe, Mr. Icchiku Yamada of the University of Tokyo on Sri Lanka, Mr. Satoru Miyazawa, (UNHCR) on Timor-Leste, and Prof. Misako Takizawa of Obirin University Africa, and commented by Mr. Kazuo Takahashi, Director of Japan Association for United Nations Studies.
At the GPAJ Annual Conference held on 2 December 2017, three presentations were made by Ms. Ayano Matudo (Japan International Cooperation Agency: JICA), Prof. Miki Honda of Hosei Universit and Prof. Yasunobu Sato of the University of Tokyo and commented by Prof. Naoki Ishihara of Ritsumeikan University.
Former SRSG Yasushi Akashi recalled his determination to saw “the strong seeds of democracy, then let people of Cambodia grow it,” while Ambassador Yoshifumi Okamura pointed out the cases where the reality in the field of peacekeeping is not reflected in the considerations at the Security Council.
Higashi identified challenges caused by POC, Hisamura presented field perspective, Takazawa theorized the crossroads between Protection of Civilians (POC) mandates and R2P, and Tsuyada explained MOFA`s assistance in capacity building of peacekeeping personnel, while Miwa revealed the dilemma in mandate formulation and implementation.
Graduate students who participated in the annual meeting of the Global Peacebuilding of Japan found the presentation made by Professor Takayuki Mizuno of Kanda University of International Relations best in terms of its content and clarity of presentation.
“Peacebuilding: Roles of International Community and Japan”(2017/12/02 10:00-18:00 @Collaboration Room 4, Building 18 Floor 4, Komaba Campus, the University of Tokyo)
Opening remarks by former SRSG Yasushi Akashi and Keynote Speech by Ambassador Yoshifumi Okamura at University of Tokyo Komaba Campus. Anyone interested in this symposium is invited to contact kihara-hunt[@]gpaj.org (*Please change [@] to @ when you send an e-mail).
Dr. Math Noortmann from Coventry University delivers a keynote speech entitled, “Making Sense of Dignity in UN Documents: Understanding Political Discourse and Legal Interpretation.”