On 10 August 2023, UNU will host “A New Agenda for Peace: Opportunities and Next Steps for Disarmament”, a conversation with Izumi Nakamitsu, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. This event starts at 17:00 in the 2F Reception Hall at UNU Headquarters in Tokyo.
The UN Secretary-General’s latest policy brief — the New Agenda for Peace -— provides concrete recommendations to address strategic risks, prevent conflict and promote peace. This New Agenda starts from the premise that only through enhanced international cooperation can we face the interlocking threats before us.
Ms. Nakamitsu will join UNU Rector Tshilidzi Marwala for a conversation exploring how disarmament is a critical part of the New Agenda for Peace in the volatile world today and how it can best be moved forward. The conversation will focus on some of the following questions:
- What is the rationale behind issuing Our Common Agenda and the New Agenda for Peace?
- What actions should Member States take to address geopolitical divisions and to prevent conflict?
- What are the next steps for the New Agenda for Peace?
The UNU Conversation Series aims to foster audience participation; you are encouraged to engage with the speakers during the conversation and at the reception that will follow, where all event attendees are invited to enjoy hors d’oeuvres and drinks while exchanging ideas and making new contacts.
Please note that this event will be in English only. Advance registration (by 9 August) is required. Please click on the REGISTER button above to access the online registration page.
Please also note that entry into the venue will not be allowed after 17:15. Additionally, please be prepared to present identification at check-in.
About the speaker
Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu assumed her position as Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs on 1 May 2017. Prior to taking on this post, Ms. Nakamitsu served as Assistant Administrator of the Crisis Response Unit at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) since 2014.
She has many years of experience within and outside the United Nations system, most recently as Special Adviser Ad Interim on Follow-up to the Summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants between 2016 and 2017. She was previously Director of the Asia and the Middle East Division of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations between 2012 and 2014, and Director of the Department’s Division of Policy, Evaluation and Training, from 2008 to 2012.
Between 2005 and 2008, Ms. Nakamitsu was Professor of International Relations at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, where she also served as a member of the Foreign Exchange Council to Japan’s Foreign Minister, and as a visiting senior adviser on peacebuilding at the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Between 1998 and 2004, she was the Chef de Cabinet and Director of Planning and Coordination at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, based in Stockholm, Sweden.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Nakamitsu was a member of the United Nations Reform Team of former Secretary-General Kofi Annan. She also held positions with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), including within the office of Assistant High Commissioner for Policy and Operations Sergio Vieira de Mello, and in UNHCR field operations in the former Yugoslavia, Turkey and northern Iraq.
Born in 1963, Ms. Nakamitsu holds a Master of Science degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and a Bachelor of Law degree from Waseda University in Tokyo.
