Monday, November 23, 2009

Perspectives on the International Criminal Court & US Membership

UNA Westchester will present a discussion on the International Criminal Court in cooperation wih Pace Law School on December 1, 2009 at 5:00 p.m. John Washburn, Director and Convener of the American NGO Coalition for the ICC and Prof. Jide Nzalibe, Visiting Professor at NYU and Professor of Law at Northwestern School of Law, will speak. Prof. Alexander Greenawalt of Pace Unversity Law School will moderate the meeting, which will focus on the different views of the advantages and disadvantages of the Interational Criminal Court and US membership in it.

Co-sponsors include Pace Law School,Citizens for Global Situations, Unitarian Universalist UN Office and the Westchester Bar Association. The meeting will be held at Pace Law School - Preston Hall - Tudor Room, at 52 North Broadway, White Plains, NY. All are welcome. A question and answer period will follow the pogram and refreshments will be served.
For more information, contact: philreynolds60@hotmail.com ; call him at 914-472-5490.

Exciting Times / Challenging Times

I'm grateful and honored to be the President-Elect of the UNA Southern New York State Division, and to work with the team that includes Catherine D. White and Marcia Brewster, Vice Presidents, Margaret Shannon, Secretary, and Lee H. Bloom, Treasurer, as well as the rest of the UNA Southern New York State Division Board.

I've been approached in the last few weeks by several prospective UNA volunteers who are offering their time and talent to the UNA Southern New York State Division. In this new era of U.S. multilateralism, it's exciting to meet people who have found us on-line and want to become part of the UNA-USA mission to support the United Nations.

Ambassador Tom Miller, who has been President of UNA-USA just since May, has asked Chapters, Divisions and individual members to step up their volunteer support as well as financial support, so that we can together bring to the American public the important news of the important work of the UN. Tom's remarks and Jeff Laurenti's remarks to the Annual Meeting of the UNA Southern NY State Division are posted on our new Youtube channel: www.youtube.com/UNAsouthernNYStatedv

Several of us will be calling UNA friends to encourage greater involvement as well as the needed financial support. I hope you will step up, volunteer your time and enthusiasm, and lend your strong support to the United Nations. Email or call me to become part of this volunteer effort or just to learn more. jinka.stillman@gmail.com

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

UNA Connecticut Division and Connecticut Post Publish Supplement for the Schools

The Connecticut Post has published a supplement "The United Nations and You" for UN Day 2009. This Newspaper in Education supplement was spearheaded by Division member Mary Keane and includes a welcome letter from Division president Dr. Joseph Baxer. Lafayette College senior Alina Stelman served as editor. The supplement has been distributed to schools in Bridgeport, as well as electronically. Hard copies distributed by the Division included the excellent annual Peace Calendar. Congratulations to all involved!

I particularly enjoyed a recipe for "Peace Pudding", which starts with "In a large bowl, gently sift 1 c. tolerance, 1 c. respect, 1/2 c. empathy, 1 tsp. patience...."

The Supplement includes articles on the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, US Ambassador Susan Rice, and pieces on a number of Connecticut people who have devoted their time to global issues and the United Nations. Other articles are on Sports and Peace, Model UN, UNA-USA Student Alliance, and UN Peacekeepers. Some articles first appeared in supplements produced by The Journal News Newspaper in Education program.

If the supplement becomes available on-line, this blog will let you know!