Report of the meeting of Annual General Meeting, chair’s report and public meeting |
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Report of the meeting of Annual General Meeting, chair’s report and public meeting |
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Vijay Mehta |
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About 40 people attended the AGM at Friends House, Euston, on Saturday 23rd February 2008. In June, Jim Addington, made a submission to the Iraq Commission, in which he pointed out questions relating to the legality or otherwise of the war on Iraq and the concerns regarding the future of British foreign policy. In the same month, the Annual Erskine Childers lecture was held at Friends House. Kate Allen, Director of Amnesty International, gave a talk on 'the growth and importance of individual action and its increasing influence in the field of human rights and United Nations reform.’ Craig Murray, former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, gave a compelling talk about the relationship of the United Nations vis-à-vis the United States. In light of the Realpolitik the UN faces from powerful states, the question Craig answered was ‘Can the United Nations be strengthened to resist manipulation by America.’ The talk was given at Essex Hall, London on 4th July 2007. In August 2007, Joseph E. Schwartzberg (Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota) gave a talk on ‘Reforming the UN for the 21st Century.’ Held in Essex Hall, Joseph noted the undemocratic nature of the Security Council and gave proposals to make it more equitable. During 5-7th September 2007, the United Nations held the 60th Annual Department of Public Information Non-Governmental Organization (DPI/NGO) Conference in New York. This year’s topic was 'Climate Change: How It Impacts Us All.' I travelled to the United Nations Headquarters, New York, and spoke about the global climate change treaty, and military wars and the environment. I also wrote a report on the conference which appeared in the ACT-UN newsletter. On 6th November 2007, Action for UN Renewal members commemorated ‘A Celebration of Jim Addington's Life’ at Friends House. The event was hosted by Rosemary Addington and myself. It was a large gathering, over 100 people, from various organisations which Jim was very involved with, including UNA, CND, Labour Action for Peace, among others. Tributes were paid by his relations and friends and by many others including Tony Benn, Bruce Kent, Jeremy Corbyn MP, and Kate Hudson. There was music from members of the Kingston Coral Society and a singing performance by MANA. There are more details and photos in February’s newsletter which is outside. In December 2007, in light of the deteriorating situation in Burma, we held an event on ‘Bringing Democracy to Burma – What can the UK government do to promote and implement the rule of law and the UN Charter?’ Speakers included Anna Roberts from The Burma Campaign UK, the Rt. Hon. Lord (Peter) Archer Q.C., President of World Disarmament Campaign, and John Rowley from the Gandhi Foundation. Action for UN Renewal continues to produce quarterly newsletters, copies of which are available outside. It contains news and comments on the United Nations and activities and meetings of Action for UN Renewal. I’d like to especially thank James Thring for compiling the reports on several of the lectures for the newsletters. Many others, though too many to mention, have contributed to the newsletter. I’d also like to thank them for their contribution. Some of our forthcoming activities include talks in which I am speaking are to be given at Oxford University, St Andrews University (Scotland) and attending the UNA conference in Exeter. In April, on the invitation of the News School of Athens, I will be travelling to Athens, Greece to speak on global institutions and the role of the UN. I would like to thank our vice-chairs, Prue Wendt and Ailsa Moore, for arranging meetings and for their guidance and advice in the organisation. Thanks to our secretary, Kate Hodgson for keeping minutes and circulating the agenda and helping with the newsletter. However, we regret that she has to leave but we wish her well for the future. Thanks Carol Langdon, for keeping the finances and membership data in healthy order, Karl Miller for maintaining the website and our committee members, Donald Prentice, M A Qavi, Gordon Glass, Rosemary Addington, Luckshan Abeysuriya, for the smooth running of the organisation. As ever, Action for UN Renewal remains a vibrant and important organisation and continues to have a vital role to play in campaigning for the reforms of the United Nations. Making it a credible and effective UN organisation for the maintenance of international peace and security, justice and the rule of law continues to be our ultimate aim. Let’s continue to work towards that goal. Chair: Vijay Mehta Committee members: Donald Prentice We welcomed the addition of our new secretary Jess Blijkers. Campaigning Our members are keen to hold meetings outside London. In Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, Manchester, as they think Action for UN Renewal is too London-centric. The following suggestions for meetings were made by our members, which should be taken up by Action for UN Renewal in the future.
Some suggestions were made for speakers for our annual Erskine Childers Memorial lecture which are as follows:
Public meeting
Our Chair welcomed our Principal Speaker Geoffrey Robertson QC, who spoke and answered several questions on Human Rights and other issues over last 100 years of HR development. The last speaker Luckshan gave a short update on the Torture convention and the deteriorating conflict in Sri Lanka followed by a Q&A session. The lecture will be reported in the next newsletter of Action for UN Renewal. The meeting finished at 5.00pm with a thank you note by the chair. |