European Union is one of the most powerful political groups at the UN. The 27 EU member states comprise more than one-eighth of all votes in the UN General Assembly and EU member and candidate countries account for one-third of the UN Security Council’s current membership, not to mention the significant financial contribution to the UN system. The EU Member States meet regularly - every morning in this period of the year, to coordinate their positions on various issues and resolutions.
The reason I’m writing this is to give you a broad perspective on the way things work around here. In order to have a proposal passed by the General Assembly it is best to pass it first through the European Union coordination meetings, in order to have a stronger voice and our proposals to be supported by all the 27 member states and the candidate countries for the EU. However, all the EU member states have similar views in general over development and the steps that need to be taken for solving global issues, so our work is basically reduced to coordinating our efforts than to negotiating our proposals.
Yesterday I took part at a very interesting side-event with the topic focused on the death penalty and the UN’s last year’s resolution with the recommendation to the member states to abolish this form of punishment for all types of crime. In the panel of speakers we had the opportunity to listen the testimonials of 3 ex-judges and prosecutors from Japan and United States that are responsible for the prosecution and execution of more than one person, and that are now conducting a large scale campaign against this form of punishment, because in their experience it seems that many mistakes have been made and many innocent people have died.
Today at noon we had a very exciting meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations. His busy schedule didn’t allow him to stay with the youth delegates more than 20 minutes, but I can say that those 20 minutes were very intense and empowering at the same time. Mr. BAN KI-MOON can indeed make quite an impression on somebody just by giving a speech. It wasn’t really the case here, cause he took his time to shortly listen to more than 20 youth delegates that attended the meeting and to give a short feedback to all of the problems that we decided to bring to his attention. (we each prepared a short phrase to emphasize the most important issue that young people in our country have to deal with). The meeting ended with a photo shoot and a short message from the Secretary General towards youth all over the world : he wanted to underline that today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders and the important role that youth play in achieving the millennium goals, especially those that address durable development and the preservation of the environment. Indeed an inspiring meeting we all had today, and we hope to reedit this event before we leave New York.
A trecut ceva vreme de cand nu am mai scris pe acest blog, dar acum am ajuns in New York, capitala lumii asa cum o stim noi si a venit timpul sa ne apucam de treaba in adevaratul sens al cuvantului.
Misiunea Permanenta a Romaniei la ONU, locul unde eu si Alexandra suntem cazati, e un loc primitor in inima Manhattan-ului, cu oameni calzi si deschisi la tot ceea ce e nou. Prima zi aici a debutat cu un exercitiu mai neobisnuit - cunoasterea personalului misiunii, in care i-am vazut pe toti, de la Doamna Ambasador Miculescu, pana la portari si soferi, reamenajand un spatiu din cladirea de 16 etaje a misiunii. Exceptionala echipa de aici! Cel putin asa ni s-a parut la prima vedere.
Printre caratul rafturilor si a dosarelor, am “intrat si noi in paine” Continue reading ‘Cateva luni mai tarziu!’