Civil Society Meets At UN Headquarters Tomorrow On Ways To Prevent Conflict
New York, Jul 18 2005 4:00PM
Responding to Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s call for input from the world at large on ways to build world peace, some
600 international civil society leaders will gather at United Nations Headquarter in New York tomorrow for conference
aimed at implementing a global agenda to prevent conflict, the first such meeting of its kind.
A message from Mr. Annan will be read at the opening plenary session in the General Assembly Hall, and keynote and panel
speakers include UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari, UN Under-Secretary-General for
Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland and Nobel Peace laureates Jodi Williams of the United States and Oscar Arias of Costa
Rica.
The three-day conference – From Reaction to Prevention: Civil Society Forging Partnerships to Prevent Conflict and Build
Peace – comes in response to Mr. Annan’s recommendation in his 2001 Report on the Prevention of Armed Conflict “to
organize an international conference of local, national and international NGOs (non-governmental organizations) on their
role in conflict prevention and future interaction with the United Nations.”
It is being organized by the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC), set up in 2002 following
Mr. Annan’s challenge, in partnership with the UN Department of Political Affairs.
ENDS