| Report
on Millennium Forum of worldwide NGOs |
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Almost 1200 delegates from NGOs around the world
attended the Millennium Forum held at United Nations Headquarters
in New York from May 22-26, 2000.
The International Shinto Foundation was represented by Director
-General Yoshimi Umeda from the ISF
Headquarters Office in Tokyo and Mr.Paul H.Sherbow of the ISF/NY
Center, assisted by Mrs.Kathy Hobbs and Mrs.Setsuko Umeda.
The main objectives of this assembly of NGOs were to bring representatives
of grass-ruot civil society throughout the world together to
discuss the role of the UN in solving the global challenges
of the 21st century, to gather innovative ideas and experiences
from all sectors of society, to articulate a vision to creat
future peace and justice for all peoples, and to suggest new
possibilities of organizational structure whereby the peoples
of the world can participate effectively in global decision-making
in the context of the United Nations system.
The Millennium Forum addressed six major sub-themes: 1) Peace,
security and disarmament; 2)Eradication of poverty; 3)Human
rights; 4)Sustainable development and environment; 5)Facing
the challenges of globalization; and 6)Strengthening and democratizing
the United Nations and international organizations.
Following the opening session on May 22nd, in which delegates
were welcomed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and then addressed
by Mr.Juan Somavia (former Chilean Ambassador to the UN and
currently Director-General, International Labour Organization);
Ms.Graciela Robert(Vice President, Medicins d Monde); Prince
Talal Bin Abdul Aziz (President, Arab Gulf Programme for united
Nations Development Organizations); Dr,Maj-Britt Theorin (Chair,
Council of Parliamentarians for Global Action); and Mr.Martin
Khor (Executive Director, Third World Network), delegates broke
up into working groups to discuss the six sub-themes and produce
a document containing their conclusions, which would then be
presented to the Millennium Summit of governmental leaders scheduled
to meet at the United Nations in September.
Funding allowed many smaller NGOs to be able to attend the Forum
and it was a pleasure to meet with them and be informed of their
various projects and plans for the future. Asian NGOs were well
represented with many delegates from China, Japan, Korea and
other countries, including a single delegate from Mongolia.Sensing
the need for joint cooperation on issues of common concern,
especially those involving the environment, there were several
meetings of delegates to form Asian Caucuses. We recognized
the role of ISF as an NGO in Asia to cooperate with them. |
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