UNAA CONFERENCE

Background to the Conference

The aim of the Conference is to review the challenges facing our world following the Copenhagen Conference. One of the highlights will be a Speakers’ Panel who will invite questions from participants on issues facing our world in 2010 and beyond.

To ensure the relevance of the Conference to current issues, speakers have been invited with special expertise in topics which are the subject of high level UN Meetings in 2010. These include

Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty Review Meeting, New York 3^rd – 28^th May 2010

In addressing the opening session of the Review Meeting the Secretary General Ban-ki-Moon said: “How long must we wait to rid ourselves of this threat? How long will we keep passing the problem to succeeding generations?.. We have a choice: to leave a legacy of fear and inaction... or to act with vision, courage and leadership.” Following the failure of the 2005 Review Meeting, this meeting is of particular significance.

Millennium Development Goals Summit, UN  New York, 20-22 Sept. 2010

With only five years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on world leaders to attend a summit in New York on 20-22 September 2010 to boost progress towards the MDGs with the challenge: “We must not fail the billions who look to the international community to fulfill the promise of the Millennium Declaration for a better world. Let us meet in September to keep the promise.”

Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-10) (Nagoya, Japan, 18 – 29 October)

This meeting will take place during the UN International Year for Biodiversity. The Convention on Biological Diversity was inspired by the world community's growing commitment to sustainable development. It represents a dramatic step forward in the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.

16th Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the Kyoto Protocol:  Cancún, Mexico 29 Nov -10 Dec 2010

A series of meetings on Climate Change will be held in Bonn, Germany (and one in Madrid) leading up to the high level Conference of the Parties (COP 16) in Mexico which is the successor meeting to the Copenhagen Summit.  

Other speakers will be addressing the all persuasive issues of Human Rights and Peace in our Time.