16 July 2012
Join us for the United Nations Association of Australia (Vic) Australia and the UN Security Council Public Forum "The UN Security Council: Can Australia Make It Work Better?" held in partnership with Oxfam Australia and the University of Melbourne, with special guest speaker, Security Council expert Colin Keating.
Download flyer for more information.
Guest Speakers
- Colin Keating
Founding Executive Director of Security Council Report in New York, Senior Research Fellow at Columbia University, Former New Zealand Ambassador to the UN, and Security Council President.
- Andrew Hewett
Executive Director of Oxfam Australia and Executive Committee Member of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID)
Moderator
- Professor John Langmore
Professorial Fellow, University of Melbourne School of Social and Political Sciences and former Director of the UN Division for Social Policy and Development in New York.
Event Details:
Time: 5.30pm to 7.30pm
Date: Monday 16 July 2012
Venue: The Spot Basement Theatre, Business and Economics Building (No. 110), 198 Berkeley Street, The University of Melbourne (Link to Map)
BOOK ONLINE NOW. RSVP deadline: 5pm, Friday 13 July
Free Event. RSVP Essential.
About Colin Keating
Colin Keatingis an independent adviser on international affairs. He was the founding Executive Director of Security Council Report in New York (http://www.securitycouncilreport.org) for the past 7 years. He was concurrently a Senior Research Fellow at Columbia University in New York.
Formerly, Ambassador Keating was a senior New Zealand diplomat. From 1993 to 1996, he was the New Zealand Ambassador to the UN and represented New Zealand on the Security Council in 1993 and 1994. He was Security Council president during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and has been widely recognised for leadership and advocacy at that time in trying to secure a timely and effective response. He led the Security Council Mission to Somalia. Also, he chaired the Security Council Committee on Sanctions against Iraq. He was actively involved in UN reform, serving as Co-Chair of the General Assembly working group dealing with reform at that time.
Upon his return to New Zealand, Mr Keating was appointed in 1997 as the Secretary of Justice of New Zealand. From 2000-2004 he worked in the private sector in New Zealand as a partner in legal practice.
Mr Keating has served on the Board of Amnesty International’s New Zealand Section. He was also a board member of the Foundation for the United Nations Association of New Zealand and the Governments Legal Aid Commission and the Electoral Commission. Currently Mr Keating is advising a range of clients on international and other matters.
Australia’s Bid for a Seat on the UN Security Council
The United Nations Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. It determines what enforcement measures, economic sanctions or collective military action should be undertaken, including when and where a UN Peacekeeping operation should be deployed.
Australia is standing for election to the UN Security Council this year. It was last a member of the Security Council in 1986. Since then the world has changed dramatically. We have seen the end of the Cold War and the emergence of a whole new peace and security environment. The Security Council has been slow to adapt to these new realities. There have been significant failures – not least the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia. The Security Council has also struggled to manage prolonged conflicts in Somalia and Darfur and many other places.
A seat on the Security Council would allow Australia to have greater involvement in decision-making on issues of global security and peacekeeping and to respond to the many challenges the global security environment presents. An important question for Australians, in the lead up to membership on the Council, is how Australia will respond to these policy challenges. What are the problems it faces and what options may exist over the next two years?
More information about Australia’s bid available at: http://australia-unsc.gov.au/