2007 UNA-USA BIENNIAL CONVENTION REPORT
UNA-MD Report on the Proceedings13 March 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UNA MARYLAND PARTICIPATES IN THE 2007 NATIONAL CONVENTION
By Bud Hankins, President, UNA-MD
A number of members of the Maryland Chapter of the United Nations Association
were able to attend the four day national convention in New York City in early
March of this year. Held at the world famous (Theodore) Roosevelt Hotel, the
biennial convention offered equal opportunities to listen to progress reports
delivered by persons active within the United Nations organization, participate
in panel discussions about topics of concern to the United States and the UN,
and to adopt a series of resolutions calculated to encourage public support for
strong US leadership in the United Nations.
In his opening remarks the UNA President, Ambassador William H. Luers, noted
that, although not treated as an event of particular significance by the press,
the dinner given by President Bush for the outgoing Secretary General of the
UN, Kofi Annan, was demonstrative of the reality that the US needs the UN as
much as the UN needs the US. He also stated that the United States, in the
post-9/11 period, had lost a golden opportunity to demonstrate its leadership
capabilities - establishing a world-wide cooperative effort to combat terrorism
- by opting instead to focus on Iraq and unilateral and preemptive measures not
favored by the UN.
Panel discussions attended by well-known experts in and out of government
covered such topics as the Middle East situation, the Darfur crisis, climate
change, nuclear non-proliferation, trafficking in girls, international
migration, implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, UN-US relations
and a number of topics focused on improving the organizational capability of
UNA chapters.
Fully seven hours were devoted to presenting, developing and finally voting on
sixteen binding resolutions introduced by various UNA Chapters. The
resolutions, passed by a majority of the membership will be presented to the
Board of Directors for implementation.
On Saturday, "UNA Members Day", the convention members adjourned to United
Nations Headquarters for welcoming remarks by Michele Montas, the Spokesperson
for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon; recognition of the national high school
essay contest winner; and an afternoon of discussions about "Challenges and
Opportunities for the New Secretary General", "A Performance Review of the
Human Rights Council", and "UN Peacemaking, Peacekeeping, and Peacebuilding".
At least fourteen members from UNA-MD were in attendance including five high
school students who were the guests of UNA-MD because of their superior
performance at the Model UN Conference held at Hood College earlier in the year.
At the Awards Banquet, convention members were addressed by the incoming UN
Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Sir John Holmes who pledged
his best efforts to the humanitarian needs of the planet.
One final note: special awards were presented to UNA chapters and divisions
that had achieved more than a ten percent increase in membership during 2006.
UNA-MD was one of those recipients. See the full list at unausa.org. Final Substantive Resolutions as Adopted by the UNA-USA 2007 Biennial National Convention You may also view the full list of resolutions and find out more on how to use the resolutions at una-usa.org. |
