Since globalization contains far-reaching implications for practically every facet of life, it is necessarily suggests the need to rethink key questions of intercultural communication, multiculturalism, cross-cultural education. The definitions of all these expressions is dynamic, evolving, and reflects the continual changes in our society. In broad terms, it is the ability to make and communicate meaning from one culture to another by the use of a variety of socially contextual symbols. All these thoughts have been questioned not only by philosophy, sociology, and history but also by the process of globalization. These are the concepts of Cosmopolitan view of world societies and cultures.

The word ‘cosmopolitan’, which derives from the Greek word kosmopolitês (‘citizen of the world’), is defined as: familiar with and at ease in many different countries and cultures: his knowledge of French, Italian, and Spanish made him genuinely cosmopolitan, including people from many different countries: immigration transformed the city into a cosmopolitan metropolis, having an exciting and glamorous character associated with travel and a mixture of cultures.

What does the notion of ‘cosmopolitization’ then have to say? And why is it so important to clearly distinguish it from the many ‘cosmopolitanisms’ (Kant, Hegel, Habermas, Nussbaum, Appiah, Benhabib, Held etc.) of European philosophy and extra-European histories of thought? Cosmopolitanism as a theoretical approach, provides fine descriptions of what it means to be and communicate as a global citizen, how to critically study interconnectedness within and across cultures, and how to embrace differences without glossing over them.

Cosmopolitanism can be understood as a socio-cultural condition, which is expressed in the conception of an open and cosmopolitan world. This condition is created from the base of processes linked to globalization, such as greater access to information and the development of communications and telecommunications. These processes facilitate a multiplication of social exchanges – including migrations – as well as cultural contacts which bring us closer to places and cultures which are physically and, sometimes, psychologically distant.

Cosmopolitanism has been used to describe a wide variety of important views in moral and socio-political thought. All cosmopolitan beliefs share the idea that all human beings, regardless of their political affiliation, do (or at least can) belong to a single community, and that this community should be cultivated. Different versions of cosmopolitanism envision this community in different ways, some focusing on political institutions, others on moral norms or relationships, and still others focusing on shared markets or forms of cultural and educational expression. Our interest in cosmopolitanism lies in its challenge to commonly recognized attachments to fellow-citizens, the local state, parochially shared cultures, education and the like.

Within various levels of developmental ability, a cosmopolitan person can derive and convey meaning, and use their knowledge to achieve a desired purpose or goal that requires the use of language skills, be they spoken, written or electronically transformed. A literate person can mediate their world by consciously and flexibly coordinating meaning from one linguistic knowledge base and apply or connect it to another knowledge base.

Some critics contend that the multicultural argument for the preservation of cultures is premised on a problematic view of culture and of the individual’s relationship to culture. Cultures are not distinct, self-contained wholes; they have long interacted and influenced one another through war, imperialism, trade, and migration. People in many parts of the world live within cultures that are already cosmopolitan, characterized by cultural hybridist. As Jeremy Waldron (1995, 100) argues, “We live in a world formed by technology and trade; by economic, religious, and political imperialism and their offspring; by mass migration and the dispersion of cultural influences. In this context, to immerse oneself in the traditional practices of, say, an aboriginal culture might be a fascinating anthropological experiment, but it involves an artificial dislocation from what actually is going on in the world.” To aim at preserving or protecting a culture runs the risk of privileging one supposedly pure version of that culture, thereby crippling its ability to adapt to changes in circumstances (Waldron, 110; see also Benhabib 2002 and Scheffler 2007). Waldron also rejects the premise that the options available to an individual must come from a particular culture; meaningful options may come from a variety of cultural sources. What people need are cultural materials, not access to a particular cultural structure.

In response, multicultural theorists agree that cultures are overlapping and interactive, but still maintain that individuals belong to distinct societal cultures and wish to preserve these cultures (Kymlicka 1995, 103). Multiculturalism is a body of thought about the proper way to respond to cultural and social diversity.

In recent years practitioners in a wide variety of fields -scientific cooperation, academic research, business, management, education, health, culture, politics, diplomacy, development, and others- have realized just how important intercultural communication is for their everyday work. Fast travel, international media, and the Internet have made it easy for us to communicate with people all over the world. The process of economic globalization means that we cannot function in isolation but must interact with the rest of the world for survival. The global nature of many widely diverse modern problems and issues such as the environment, governance of the Internet, poverty and international terrorism call for cooperation between nations. Intercultural communication is no longer an option, but a necessity.

Because important decisions in business, politics, education, health, and culture these days usually affect citizens of more than one nation, the question of whether communication between people of different nations is effective and whether all parties emerge with the same understanding is of crucial importance. Individuals who deal with people from other cultures want to learn how to improve their performance through improving their communication skills. Numerous resources have sprung up to meet this emerging market in the business, academic, education and international relations communities: leading authors have written books and articles on the topic; business services provide consultation for improving the conduct of international business; universities and other educational institutions offer programs or degrees in Intercultural Communication and Cosmopolitism; and researchers have established international journals and academic societies specializing in research on intercultural communication. In fact, intercultural communication has become a business in itself. Following is just an example: Richard Lewis Communications is a company owned by the author of the popular When Cultures Collide: Managing Successfully Across Cultures. They offer business consultancy, run “cross-cultural training” courses and workshops, publish papers and workbooks, and develop software for intercultural communication. Richard Lewis provides a truly global and practical guide to working and communicating across cultures: ”Working in a global team and dealing with business partners or customers across cultures raises challenges and demands new attitudes and skills. Our experience shows that without the right approach, cultural differences greatly reduce effectiveness in the early stages of a relationship. But active management of the internationalization process and a conscious effort to acquire new skills will release fresh sources of competitive advantage. Lack of knowledge of another culture can lead, at the best, to embarrassing or amusing mistakes in communication. At the worst, such mistakes may confuse or even offend the people we wish to communicate with, making the conclusion of business deals or international agreements difficult or impossible.”

Through the exploration of other cultural identities opportunities are provided to recognize points of similarity between cultures that may be hidden from view or not immediately apparent. The focus is on exploring where cultures meet and developing knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that enable interaction and negotiation between cultures. This process of coming to an understanding of others requires self-reflection and the confrontation and deconstruction of sometimes deeply embedded stereotypical views. It challenges both students and faculty to understand how views are constructed and to appreciate that views about oneself are constructed in relation to how we see each other.

Multicultural education is an interdisciplinary, cross-curricular education that contributes to the preparation for students to live and work in a diverse environment. As cross-cultural appreciation and respect become increasingly important in a globalized, interdependent world, it is imperative that students develop an understanding of cultures outside of their own. Multicultural education provides an avenue for schools to develop cultural awareness among their student bodies. Intercultural/ Multicultural education is about developing an understanding of and valuing others and about understanding of and valuing self. It provides opportunities to gain an insight into one’s own knowledge, limits, doubts and attitudes by confronting, interacting and negotiating with other cultures. This requires developing an understanding of why we see the world in the way we do. It allows students to break through their prejudices and get to know something of the actual person behind the stereotype. These types of educational programmers help young people recognize the sensitivity of talking about strongly held beliefs, and the consequences of not handling them with care, particularly the problems that occur when disagreement escalates into conflict or violence.

Perhaps the most common invocations of the label ‘cosmopolitan’ in recent philosophical literature have been in the disputes over cultural cosmopolitanism. Especially with disputes over multiculturalism in educational curricula and with resurgent nationalisms, cultural claims and counter-claims have received much attention. The cosmopolitan position in both of these kinds of disputes rejects exclusive attachments to parochial culture. So on the one hand, the cosmopolitan encourages cultural diversity and appreciates a multicultural blend, and on the other hand, the cosmopolitan rejects a strong nationalism. In staking out these claims, the cosmopolitan must be cautious about very strong ‘rights to culture,’ respecting the rights of minority cultures while rebuffing the right to unconditional national self-determination. Hence, recent advocates of ‘liberal nationalism’ (e.g., Margalit and Raz,) or of the rights of minority cultures (e.g., Kymlicka) generally seem to be anti-cosmopolitan. But the cosmopolitan’s wariness towards very strong rights to culture and towards national self-determination need not be grounded in a wholesale skepticism about the importance of parochial cultural attachments. Cosmopolitanism can acknowledge the importance of (at least some kinds of) cultural attachments for the good human life (at least within certain limits), while denying that this implies that a person’s cultural identity should be defined by any bounded or homogeneous subset of the cultural resources available in the world (e.g., Waldron).

Cosmopolitan cultural identity is introduced across the global and the local, encompassing questions of cultural mastery, mobility, traveling, tourism, and home and nation-state attachments. Cosmopolitanism, containing but also furthering the notion of interculturalism, could constitute an alternative to or complement for ‘cross-cultural education’ in theory or practice, especially via its element of ‘multiculturalism’. The explicit reference of cosmopolitanism to the development of the individual, in contrast to institutionalized frameworks, opens up further usefulness for intercultural education. The cosmopolitanism with the concept “to be concerned for another as I am concerned for myself” — is integral in nature: it contains the conceptual agenda that is common to most cosmopolitan perceptions; it allows them to exist alongside one another; and it encourages a normative, systematic outlook in man – the concern for another for the “good of the whole” – since people are essentials in one connected human system.

This approach is pragmatic in that it suggests a practical solution not only to interpersonal challenges but also to intercultural challenges. The “vision of the good” that overwhelms society demands treatment first before structural changes. A suitable response requires an educational, moral and conscious shift among the citizens of the world. Each person must recognize that his destiny is dependent on his relations with others, meaning anyone outside himself. When openness and concern are placed for others at the top of society’s agenda, when that will be the defining principle for curriculum at the university, there will be immediate progress in the society. People will form an open approach to the world within themselves – a kind of cosmopolitan prism through which they can judge their actions toward fellow people – and it will bring about the change in spheres such as economy, migration, environment, communication, security and more. The cosmopolitan integral education can provide an alternative to the various private affairs. This is a massive mission, that is obligating citizens of the world to engage in mutually beneficial relationships rather than relationships of advantage and distance. Today, even from the most egoistic perspective it is worthwhile to be concerned for the public since future is dependent upon people of the world. (Kapstein & Rosenthal 2009)

Susie Michailidis Ph.D. Professor is Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Indianapolis, Athens.

Bibliography:

- Benhabib, Seyla. The Claims of Culture: 
Equality and Diversity in the Global Era. Princeton University Press 2002

- Kapstein, E. B., & Rosenthal, J. H.Ethics and International Relations. Farnham, Ashgate, 2009

- Kymlicka, Will. Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

- Lewis, Richard. When Cultures Collide: Managing Successfully Across Cultures London: Nicholas Brealey, 1993.

- MacIntyre, Alas dair. “Is Patriotism a Virtue?” In Theorizing Citizenship, ed. Ronald Beiner , 209-228. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995.

- Margalit, Avishai, and Joseph Raz. “National Self-Determination.” Journal of Philosophy 87 (1990): 439-61.

- Mason, Andrew. “Special Obligations to Compatriots.” Ethics 107: 427-447,1997.

- O’Neill, Onora. Bounds of Justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

- Rex, Martin and Reidy, David, eds. Rawls’s Law of Peoples: A Realistic Utopia?. Malden: Blackwell, 2006.

- Tan Kok-Chor. Justice Without Borders: Cosmopolitanism, Nationalism, and Patriotism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

- Waldron, J., “Superseding Historic Injustice,” Ethics, 103(1): 4–28, 1992.

- Waldron, J. “Minority Cultures and the Cosmopolitan Alternative,” in The Rights of Minority Cultures, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1995.

So, where do we go from here? Albert Einstein once stated that a person, who by repeating the same process expects a different result, is definitely insane. Following this, it is evident that expecting salvation from the current economic practices is doomed.

I sincerely believe the West should move towards the Scandinavian welfare state direction. Adopting such a system, would end the focus on personal gain and the ridiculous pursuit of riches. It would stress the importance of collective well being and the importance of society’s progress instead of pure personal well-being.

Obviously, there are arguments against this. Winston Churchill, an ardent Anti-Socialist in his time, considered Communism as the destruction of free enterprise and will and thus, the damnation of society as a whole into misery.

Alas, the present situation indicates that collective misery can occur in the liberal system as well.

How can we put things into perspective? Our youth should be introduced to the belief that the common good is above personal gain. Schools and Universities should struggle to abolish the ‘greed is good’ dogma that has led society to a dead end. As George Orwell had noted in the 1940’s, ‘in a society, indexes and percentages are irrelevant, what is critical is whether the average citizen is happy’.

Ask yourselves a very simple question: how can one feel happy when there may be even one fellow citizen in misery?

In retrospect, we should have never allowed society to reach a state where the individual is more important than the whole. I am well, when everyone around me is well. My main concern is to have healthy and resourceful people around.

And this should be the norm in our society!

Republished by HRW.org

Facebook issued its first transparency report, surprising no one in saying that the US government has made more requests for user data than any other country. US surveillance practices are only one of the reasons the country leads the pack: Facebook is also based in the US, as are many of its users.

More troubling, however, is that Facebook’s report, which covers the first half of 2013, named the Indian government as making the second most requests, with 3,245 in total. While India is one of Facebook’s fastest growing markets, this is over four times the number Brazil made in the same period, which has a comparable number of Facebook users. India has used its laws to arrest people for posting comments critical of its government on social media. Given this record, both Facebook and the government need to be more transparent regarding the nature of these requests.

The numbers for the UK, Germany, Italy, France, and Brazil are also high. Notably, Facebook complied with less than 40 percent of requests from Germany, France, and Brazil. Users in these countries should be asking why these requests were rejected: Were they overbroad or vague? Did the government not follow privacy laws?

Considering the current controversy over US surveillance practices, the US numbers say less than they seem. The US government only allows companies to reporton national security requests when lumped in with ordinary law enforcement requests. This limitation inhibits real debate as to whether the surveillance practices of the US are proportional or justified. In July, we called on the US government to remove these limitations and increase transparency.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant for government abuses and Facebook (and its peers) have taken a great first step in issuing these reports. In the future, we’d love to see the same data on government requests to Facebook that would restrict freedom of expression. As a member of the Global Network Initiative, Facebook should also explain how it minimizes the harm to privacy in cases where it does comply with a request.

Ultimately, governments should follow suit and be more transparent about how they enlist tech companies in surveillance efforts. And citizens should be asking their governments to justify why they need so much information about users’ Facebook activities – and show that they are protecting the right to privacy.

“We reiterate that the right to nationality is a fundamental right protected by article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which provides that no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his or her nationality,” Cécile Pouilly, the spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), told journalists in Geneva.

She added that deprivation of nationality provided for by law had to comply with procedural and substantive standards, including the principle of proportionality. OHCHR is also concerned that arbitrary deprivation of nationality could lead to statelessness with serious consequences for the protection of the human rights of the individuals concerned.

“While recognizing the responsibility of States to maintain law and order, we remind the authorities that any measure should respect international human rights standards,” said Ms. Pouilly.

The Bahraini parliament, known as the National Assembly, recently met to discuss the revisions, supported by a royal decree on 31 July, to the 2006 Law on the Protection of Society from Acts of Terrorism.

The recommendations include increasing the detention period or revoking the citizenship of anyone found guilty of committing or inciting an act of terrorism. They also provide for banning sit-ins, rallies and gatherings in the capital, Manama.

OHCHR said that although it welcomes the Parliament’s recommendation that “basic liberties, particularly freedom of opinion, should not be affected to maintain a balance between law enforcement and human rights protection,” it reiterates its concern about the restrictions on public demonstrations and other public gatherings.

“We call upon the Government of Bahrain to fully comply with its international human rights commitments, including respect for freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and association, and urge all demonstrators to exercise these rights in a peaceful manner,” the spokesperson said.

The UN has repeatedly called for dialogue among all parties in Bahrain since civil unrest, including clashes between security forces and demonstrators broke out in early 2011, when widespread protests first emerged in the country.

The first-ever survey of its kind, produced by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and partners, focuses on issues such as the ability to protect oneself and having sufficient time to evacuate before a potential disaster. It also asks questions about knowledge, awareness and participation in disaster management plans at national and local level.

“The survey will focus on a major blind spot in disaster management, the needs of the one billion or more people estimated to live with some form of disability,” said the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström. We can expect that as many as 30 million people living with a disability are affected during an average year by earthquakes and weather-related hazards.

According to UNISDR, this is the first survey of its kind and the data gathered could help Governments and international organizations put in place preparedness policies aiming to protect persons with disabilities during disasters.

“This survey has the potential to provide a very revealing insight into how we can reduce disaster risk for people living with disabilities which can then be included in the new global agreement on disaster risk reduction which will be in place by 2015,” Wahlström said.

The survey results will be announced on International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction which is marked each year on October 13. In a news release, UNISDR said it is working closely with UN Enable, the Disability-inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction Network for Asia and the Pacific and other partners on implementing the survey.

In his opening statement, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon encouraged participants to be “global citizens” and to help the Organizations rise to the challenges such as insecurity, climate change and unemployment by finding their own mission in life.

“Be part of creating a new vision. It is not only about telling us what kind of world you want. It is about partnering with us to realize a better future,” he told participants at the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum in New York.

The forum’s theme focuses on leveraging science, technology, innovation and culture to improve societies. Participants are ‘tomorrow’s innovators’, including youth representatives from Member States, students and young entrepreneurs with science and technology backgrounds and youth-led non-governmental organizations.

Ban noted that working with youth is one of his top priorities because “young leaders have the energy and ideas we need to change our world.”

He stressed the essential role of education, adding a personal note about the power of education as he was growing up in the Republic of Korea.

“When we give children and youth the education they deserve, they will help transform the world,” he said. He also noted his new initiative, Education First, a $1.5 billion initiative to achieve universal education.

Also speaking at the opening of the forum, ECOSOC President Néstor Osorio reiterated the need to overcome obstacles on education and employment, particularly among women and girls.

Young people are three times more likely to be unemployed than adults and more than 75 million youth worldwide are looking for work, according to the UN International Labour Organization (ILO). In Europe and the Middle East, more than half of 15 to 24 year olds are without jobs.

Osorio noted the new opportunities for young entrepreneurs through start-up companies in arts, technology and advertising businesses.

Social networking sites, he noted, played an important role in promoting the so-called Arab Spring by “giving the youth a voice and making them an important player in the transformation of the region.” In addition, mobile phones are pushing development by allowing users to browse the Internet and transfer money wirelessly.

“Young people need economic opportunity. Young people want the full enjoyment of their political and civil rights and freedoms. Speaking their minds; participating in politics; practicing the religion of their choice; and living their lives without any form of discrimination are some of their legitimate aspirations,” Mr. Osorio said.

“Meaningful participation, openness, inclusion and accountability can be improved by using technology, science, and culture. They all can serve as a vital engine for positive change,” he added.

Among the youth addressing participants was 15-year-old World Food Programme Youth Representative Adora Svitak, who encouraged young people to change history with their tremendous audacity and imagination.

Some people think kids and power is a dangerous combination, Ms. Svitak said, “but the only danger is transformational change.”

She said young people are instrumental in supporting and encouraging their peers, and creating change online by toppling regimes and shifting attitudes.

Also, the Secretary-General’s Envoy for Youth, Ahmad Alhendawi, said that engaging young people in addressing global challenges is important because they are at the very fore in both using and developing tools in the field of science, technology and innovation.

“Young people are engines of growth and human development,” he said in a statement.

In a plan for change outlined by Ban, the Youth Envoy’s role encompassed four principles: participation, advocacy, partnerships and harmonization.

Fully endorsing the plan, Mr. Ban encouraged young people to communicate with the UN through the meeting places and cyberspace, such as by following the UN on Twitter (@UN) and to tweet the Envoy directly at @AhmadAlhendawi.

Meanwhile, ECOSOC is today launching a major online campaign, ‘Innovate Your Future.’ The online forum allows youth between the ages of 15 and 40 to write in their ideas and thoughts on how science, technology, innovation and culture can help shape a sustainable world.

For example, one person suggests “to come up with a solar-powered irrigation system” while another advocates “designing homes that consume less power.”

The concerns and recommendations brought forward on the site, along with the ideas from today’s forum, will be presented at the ECOSOC High-level Segment in Geneva this July for ministers from Member States.

“We are concerned at the persistence of loopholes and ambiguities in the current draft of the constitution which, if not removed, might undermine the protection of women’s rights and the principle of gender equality,” said the head of the UN Working Group on discrimination against women in law and in practice, Kamala Chandrakirana.

Tunisia’s new constitution is seen as a vehicle to further advance justice, democracy and human rights, including the rights of women. However, the Working Group warned that the current draft fails to refer to the international human rights obligations to which Tunisia is bound.

“While equality between men and women is recognized, the prohibition of discrimination, including on the ground of sex, is not articulated in the second draft constitution, and there is a lack of provision on the right to remedy,” Ms. Chandrakirana said.

The Working Group, which just finished a five-day visit to the country, said it was also concerned that the draft does not specify the spheres of life – public and private – in which the right to equality is guaranteed. It also fails to specify women’s civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.

They called for the constitution to provide temporary special measures to accelerate women’s participation in all aspects of society and to create a mechanism to monitor compliance with women’s equality and non-discrimination.

In that regard, it recommended the adoption of explicit requirements of gender balance and gender responsiveness in every constitutional authority, as well as establishing a specialized constitutional authority on gender equality.

In particular, the Working Group urged Tunisian authorities as well as civil society organizations to reach out to rural women to improve their capacities as equal citizens entitled to fully participate in the public and political life of their country. “Rural women need to be an integral part of the historic reforms the country is undergoing,” the Group said.

During their visit to the country, Ms. Chandrakirana and Eleonora Zielinska, who represented the Working Group, met in Tunis and Jendouba with Government officials and local authorities, the national human rights institution, civil society organizations, religious institutions, academics and representatives of UN agencies.

The Working Group is scheduled to present its final conclusions and recommendations to the UN Human Rights Council in June.

In a news release, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said its most recent Food Price Index dropped 1.1 per cent from November. The decline from 213 to 209 points was largely due to the continuing decrease in the international prices of cereals, oils and fats.

The Index measures the monthly change in international prices of a basket of 55 food commodities, including meat, dairy, sugar, and cereals. The prices for cereals also increased slightly, while sugar and oils prices fell.

“The result marks a reversal from the situation last July, when sharply rising prices prompted fears of a new food crisis,” said the Assistant Director-General in charge of FAO’s Economic and Social Development Department, Jomo Sundaram.

“But international coordination, including through the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS), as well as flagging demand in a stagnant international economy, helped ensure the price spike was short-lived and calmed markets so that 2012 prices ended up below the previous year’s levels,” he added.

According to its website, the AMIS initiative – for which the Secretariat is based at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy – seeks to enhance food market transparency and encourage coordination of policy action in response to market uncertainty, mainly focusing on four foods that are particularly important in international markets: wheat, maize, rice and soybeans.

As a whole, the Index averaged 212 points in 2012, seven per cent less than in 2011. The sharpest falls in prices were registered in sugars, dairy products and oils, and to a lesser extent in cereals and meat.

From July to September, cereal prices had steadily increased due to uncertainties and tight supplies. However, they began dropping in October because of weaker demand for supplies in industrial uses.

In December, maize prices fell sharply as large export supplies in South America relieved market pressure. Rice prices also dipped last month due to the expectations of good harvests, but wheat values remained virtually unchanged.

Oils and fats prices experienced a 1.9 per cent drop mainly due to the continued build up of large global inventories of palm oil, and sugar prices decreased only marginally. FAO noted that an increase in global sugar production, especially in Brazil, kept international prices down for much of the second half of 2012.

Meat prices registered a slight decrease as pig prices fell by 2 per cent, the agency stated, while dairy prices rose by 0.9 per cent – they were the only commodities to have experienced a rise in price as the dairy market is increasingly susceptible to supply changes related to pasture conditions, feed availability and affordability.

“We need to ensure that women have opportunities to play their full role in peace and security,” the Executive Director of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), Michelle Bachelet, told a debate of the Security Council on women and peace and security.

She noted that wherever there is conflict, whether in Mali, Syria, the Middle East, or the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), “women must be part of the solution.”

Yesterday’s debate, which was originally scheduled for late October but was postponed due to Hurricane Sandy, marks the 12th anniversary of Security Council resolution 1325, which called for women’s engagement in conflict resolution and peacebuilding.

Meeting briefly in the wake of the storm, the Council issued a presidential statement on the issue, in which it called on the international community to give women’s civil society organizations a prominent role in the negotiation, planning and implementation of peace processes and post-conflict development programmes.

In his annual report on women, peace and security, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted measures that have improved coordination and accountability and highlights a growing number of inspiring examples of women, peace and security in action.

In countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Timor-Leste, Haiti, South Sudan, Liberia, Nepal and many others, women are leading innovative approaches to prevent conflict and violence and build peace in their communities.

Bachelet, who presented the report, highlighted what women’s groups in Mali are doing right now to contribute to non-violent solutions to the crisis in that country, which has been divided since rebels took control of the north earlier this year.

“In spite of their absence from official conflict resolution processes, women leaders in the North are using informal channels to call on the leaders of armed groups to participate in peace dialogues,” she noted.

“Just two weeks ago,” she added, “nearly 1,000 women leaders and members of civil society groups gathered in Bamako and delivered a common call for peace, expressing solidarity across ethnic and other divisions and recommended specific measures to protect women’s rights and prevent violence against women and children.”

Stressing the importance of “going the extra mile” to ensure that women can play their full role, Ms. Bachelet called on world leaders to provide determined leadership, dedicated resources and direct opportunities to enable women to contribute to the maintenance of peace and security.

Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson, delivering remarks on behalf of Ban, noted that the role of women’s organizations across the world in preventing violence, resolving conflict and building the foundations for peace is well known.

“Our challenge is to become more systematic in supporting and scaling up these initiatives and making the necessary links to formal peace processes,” he said.

Also highlighting the case of Mali, Eliasson noted the fact that the rights of women and girls are being curtailed in the northern part of the country shows how armed conflict affects women and men differently. “This means that women have to be part of the solution,” he said.

“Engaging women and promoting gender equality as part of our work for peace and security is a daily responsibility and an unfinished mission for all of us,” he added. “It is time for us to finally recognize the role and power of women to help us build a peaceful world.”

In his remarks to the event, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hervé Ladsous, said that UN peacekeeping missions have supported important progress in some areas, notably women’s political participation at local and national levels. In other areas, including the protection of women activists, more could be achieved.

He described how, a week ago, some 5,000 women flooded the main commercial avenue in Kinshasa, DRC’s capital, to protest the fall of the provincial city of Goma to the 23 March Movement (M23) rebel group – the most massively organized non-violent protest in the country following the fall of the eastern city.

“However, women have not been given any political leverage in the regional negotiations aimed at bringing peace to the embattled eastern part of the country,” he added.

Ladsous emphasized that the key to removing the obstacles that impede women’s full participation in conflict prevention and peacebuilding is the active, systematic consultation with local actors and leaders, including women’s civil society organizations. “This is the only way to develop effective, context-specific and gender-aware solutions.”

In the lead-up to the Council’s debate, women activists and women’s organizations met with senior UN leadership in over 20 countries, facilitated by UN Women, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), to discuss challenges and make their recommendations on issues relating to women and peace and security.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Truth, Justice, Reparations and Guarantees of Non-Recurrence, Pablo de Greiff, welcomed the Government’s efforts to implement transitional justice measures over the last two years, especially in the areas of truth and reparations.

“I commend the Tunisian Government for the efforts to create a legal framework that refers to the four elements of transitional justice, namely, truth, justice, reparations, and guarantees of non-recurrence,” he said in a news release issued at the end of his first official mission to the country.

“However, the transitional justice process in Tunisia continues to face some serious challenges,” added de Greiff, a human rights expert from Colombia who has worked with different transitional justice bodies around the world.

The Special Rapporteur’s visit took place amid the country’s constitutional drafting process and the work towards the adoption of a law on transitional justice.

Tunisia has been moving towards becoming a society based on the rule of law in the wake of an uprising by its people, in 2010-2011, in which they demanded democracy and freedom, leading to the removal of the long-standing regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Their actions sparked a wave of popular uprisings, known as the Arab Spring, that brought down regimes in Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

de Greiff urged the North African country’s authorities to further their efforts on prosecutions, in the areas of institutional reform of the judiciary and the security sector, including vetting, which are essential to guarantee the non-recurrence of violations.

The Government must put the concept of human rights unambiguously at the centre of all transitional justice efforts, he stated, adding that a gender sensitive approach is also needed.

“Establishing effective measures dealing with past abuses requires deliberately designed mechanisms of institutional coordination,” he emphasized. “I therefore propose that an inter-ministerial coordination body be established to face the important challenges that lie ahead, and that guarantee adequate service delivery to victims.”

Independent experts, or special rapporteurs, are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back, in an unpaid capacity, on specific human rights themes. Mr. de Greiff will report on his mission to Tunisia at a session of the Council in 2013.