2011

Thursday 20 October: International perspectives on Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation

A discussion on the prospects for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation in 2012 and beyond from a range of international viewpoints, including from the perspective of the League of Arab States, China, the UN and Russia.

Speakers:

Ambassador Wael Al Assad
Director, Disarmament and Multilateral Relations Department, League of Arab States

Dr. Jianqun TENG,
Director, Centre for Arms Control & International Security Studies, Beijing

Dr. Randy Rydell,
Senior Political Affairs Officer, Office of the High Representative, UN Office for Disarmament Affairs

Dr. Vladimir A. Orlov
President, PIR Centre (The Russian Centre for Policy Studies), Moscow

Chair: Lord Hannay
           
This meeting was hosted jointly by the UN APPG and the APPG on Global Security and Non-Proliferation.

21 June: The Arab Spring: an overall view

Speaker: Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi, former Foreign Minister of Algeria, former UN envoy and member of The Elders

Chair: Lord Hannay

As an Arab League Special Envoy, Ambassador Brahimi brokered the 1989 Taef Agreement which ended the 17-year long civil war in Lebanon. After retiring as Algeria’s Foreign Minister in 1993, he went on to lead numerous UN missions. He served as the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Afghanistan 1997-1999, and from 2001-2004, he led the UN mission to Afghanistan.  In 2004 he travelled to Iraq as a Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to help form an Interim Government.  He is a member of The Elders, a collection of world leaders working to address difficult global challenges.
 
This meeting was hosted jointly by the UN APPG and the APPG on Global Security and Non-Proliferation.

23 June: Afghanistan: negotiating peace

Speakers: Ambassador Thomas Pickering, former US Undersecretary of State, and Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi, former Foreign Minister of Algeria and member of The Elders

Chair: Lord Hannay

For nearly ten years, the US and the international community have been engaged in the struggle to secure a stable peace in Afghanistan.  The international task force to look at Afghanistan in its regional and multilateral dimensions, organised by The Century Foundation under the leadership of Ambassadors Lakhdar Brahimi (UN negotiator and the architect of the Bonn agreements on Afghanistan), and Thomas Pickering (former US diplomat), have just released their report, Afghanistan: Negotiating Peace. Their findings and recommendations seek to determine what kind of political path might lead to ending the war.
 
This meeting was hosted jointly by the UN APPG and the APPG on Global Security and Non-Proliferation.

17 May: 'Have the UN Millennium Development Goals made a difference?'

On 17 May, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the UN hosted an event in the House of Lords entitled 'Have the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) made a difference'?

Chaired by Natalie Samarasinghe, Head of Policy & Communications at UNA-UK, the event explored the successes and constraints of the MDG framework, with a view to gather UN, academic and NGO perspectives on how the international community might address poverty in a strategic manner after 2015 – the target date for achieving the Goals.

The event featured presentations by:

- Professor David Hulme, Brooks World Poverty Institute, University of Manchester
- Caroline Hurford, UN World Food Programme in London
- Alison Marshall, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF-UK)

Click here to read more about this event

16 Feb: Arms Trade Treaty

Speakers: Alistair Burt, FCO Minister; Kate Allen, Director of Amnesty UK, and arms industry representative

Chaired by Lord Dubs and organised by various members of the Control Arms campaign, this event focussed on the critical role that the UK can play in championing a legally-binding, global Arms Trade Treaty. At the event, Oxfam screened a short film from its Shoot Poverty series, in which young people from around the world highlight the impact of armed violence.

19 Jan: Sexual violence in conflict

Speaker: Margot Wallström, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict.

Margot Wallström was appointed in February 2010 to lead the UN’s response to sexual violence as a tactic and consequence of war.  She used her remarks at this packed event to call for sexual violence to be recognised as one of the greatest peace and security challenges of our time. Chaired by Baroness Kinnock and jointly organised with the APPGs on women, peace and security and on global security and non-proliferation, the event was part of a three-day visit to the UK during which Wallström, met with key officials in government to drum up support for her mandate.

18 Jan: The future of intervention

Speakers: Rory Stewart MP, Emma Sky (COIN), Sir Hilary Synnott and Lord Ashdown

Part of a series of panel discussions being held in conjunction with the London School of Economics and the APPG on Global Security & Non-Proliferation, this seminar explored the future of intervention, asking whether liberal intervention is dead and reflecting on likely scenarios.

12 Jan: The lessons of intervention

Speakers: Susan Woodward, Toby Dodge MP and Clare Lockhart

Part of a series of panel discussions being held in conjunction with the London School of Economics and the APPG on Global Security & Non-Proliferation, this seminar asked whether intervention really works drawing on lessons from the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan.

2010

1 Dec: China’s role in nuclear non-proliferation

Speaker: Li Hong, Secretary-General of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association

Li Hong provided an overview of China’s role in the international nuclear non-proliferation regime to date and likely future positions. The event, which was chaired by Lord Hannay, was part of a three-day programme organised as part of UNA-UK’s nuclear non-proliferation initiative ‘Towards Zero’.

30 Nov: Prospects for nuclear non-proliferation: a US perspective

Speaker: Susan Burk, Special Representative of the US President for Nuclear Non-proliferation

Susan Burk gave a US perspective on the prospects for developments following the successful May 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. The event, which was chaired by Lord Hannay, was part of a three-day programme organised as part of UNA-UK’s nuclear non-proliferation initiative ‘Towards Zero’.

3 November: Introductory APPG briefing event - Lord Hannay and Phil Mulligan

4 February: ‘Eliminating Nuclear Threats: A Practical Agenda for Global Policymaker

8 July: ‘Challenges facing the UN’ – Sir Mark Lyall Grant

On 8 July, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the UN (UN APPG), for which UNA-UK acts as secretariat, hosted a talk and Q&A in the House of Lords with Sir Mark Lyall Grant, UK Ambassador to the UN.

Click here to read Sir Mark’s speech in full

4 February: ‘Eliminating Nuclear Threats: A Practical Agenda for Global Policymakers’

On 4 February, the United Nations APPG, for which UNA-UK acts as the Secretariat, the APPG on Global Security and Non-Proliferation and the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation co-convened the launch of the report of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament – ‘Eliminating Nuclear Threats: A Practical Agenda for Global Policymakers’.

Click here to read more about this event

Click here to view photos of the event

2009

16 November: ‘Prevention is everybody’s responsibility’

The UN APPG co-hosted a meeting in the House of Commons with Dr Francis Deng, UN Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide. Dr Deng emphasised that prevention is key, and outlined the role of the Office of the Special Adviser in monitoring trends, analysis and acting as a catalyst in the mobilisation of the international community.

Click here to view photos of the event

13 July: ‘Building Peace through the United Nations’ - Sir John Sawers

This event hosted a talk by Sir John Sawers, British Ambassador to the UN in New York entitled 'Building Peace through the United Nations'.

Click here to view photos of the event

18 March - ‘The Responsibility to Protect: Ending Mass Atrocity Crimes Once and For All ’- Gareth Evans

This event hosted a talk by Gareth Evans, President and Chief Executive of the International Crisis Group exploring the key points and the obstacles currently blocking effective implementation of the the responsability to protect concept.

2008

14 October: AGM and event on 'Soaring prices, rising hunger: What next in the global food crisis?'

This event highlighted and debated the UN Food & Agriculture Organisation's approach to tackling the world food crisis. Dr Jacques Diouf Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, spoke at this event and it was chaired by Rt Hon. Tony Baldry MP Chair, All Party Parliamentary Group on Overseas Development.

11 June: Panel discussion of 'New World Disorder', a book by UNA-UK Chair Lord Hannay of Chiswick

After an overview of the book responses were given by Sir Michael Wood (Senior Fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge, barrister at 20 Essex Street, and former Legal Adviser to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office) and Sir Jeremy Greenstock (Director of the Ditchley Foundation, former British Ambassador to the UN, and former British Special Representative in Iraq).

2007

23 July: Annual General Meeting and private meeting with Sir John Sawers

Sir John Sawers, the newly appointed Permanent Representative of the UK to the United Nations, met with the group's members to speak informally about his new role.

16 May: Colin Keating, Executive Director of Security Council Report

Colin Keating, New Zealand’s Ambassador to the UN in New York between 1993 and 1996, gave a talk entitled ‘The United Nations Security Council: From Rwanda to Darfur, Lessons Not Learned’. Click here to listen to a recording of the meeting and to view photographs and a biography of Colin Keating.

2006

8 November: Sir Emyr Jones Parry, British Ambassador to the United Nations in New York

Sir Emyr Jones Parry delivered a speech to the meeting entitled ‘The United Nations in 2007: Challenges for the Next Secretary-General’ in the Moses Room of the House of Lords. The talk was followed by a question-and-answer session, chaired by Lord Hannay of Chiswick, Vice-Chair of the UN APPG and former British Ambassador to the UN. Hugh Robertson MP, Chair of the UN APPG, opened the event.
Click here to view a biography of Sir Emyr Jones Parry.

21 June: Annual General Meeting

2005

28 November - Edward Mortimer, Director of Communications & Chief Speechwriter to the UN Secretary-General

Edward Mortimer gave an address to the Group on the future of the UN in light of the September 2005 World Summit at the UN in New York. This talk, under Chatham House rules, was held in the Grimond Room and was followed by a question-and-answer session that was chaired by Lord Hannay, Vice-Chair of the UN APPG. Click here to view a biography of Edward Mortimer.

12 July: Annual General Meeting