This year we celebrate the UN's, and our own, 60th birthday. We can be very proud of what we, as a grassroots membership organisation, have achieved during the last sixty years, and be proud of the advances made by the United Nations. We must now build on our past, renew UNA, and make an effective case for a strong United Nations which will prosper into the future.
This issue of New World contains, for the first time, the newsletter of UNA's Youth, which is run under the name "United Nations Youth & Students Association", or "UNYSA" for short. The content of the newsletter is written entirely by young members of UNA, and reflects their views and perspectives. It is most encouraging that there are now 20 active university branches of UNYSA, some with over 100 members. For the first time UNA and UNA Youth will be holding annual conferences in parallel on the same weekend this April.
The umbrella for all our activities this year will be the UN's 60th anniversary. As can be seen inside this issue, 2005 contains a feast of opportunities for UNA to make an impact. Among the watershed events are the following: the Report of the Africa Commission; UK Presidencies of both the EU and the G8; the UN's five year review of the Millennium Declaration; the NPT review conference; the Beijing plus 10 review; the debates about peace and security generated by the Report of the High- Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change; and the vital need that we make progress toward the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.