On Thursday, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will be interviewed at Yale by John Negroponte, former US ambassador to the UN. Clearly, this is an event that merits rescheduling your extracurriculars and Elmseed meetings.
Annan served as Secretary-General from 1997-2006, and oversaw extensive UN reform, the Millennium Development Goals, and the Global AIDS and Health Fund to treat the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In 2001, he received the Nobel Peace Prize.
While YIRA members had the opportunity last week to submit questions, we can still speculate on what he will discuss. Here’s what I hope to hear about:
- UN reform, and more specifically, Security Council Reform: Annan stated in a recent interview, “The pressure [to increase the Security Council] is becoming even greater with the emergence of the new powers, such as India, Brazil, Indonesia and other countries. They would expect to have a voice and a place at the table. It will be in the interests of the organization to have them there.” However, despite Brazil, India, and Germany pushing for permanent seats last year, no progress has been made. What direction is Security Council moving in currently? What kind of timeline can we expect?
- Syria: Until last August, Annan UN-Arab League Joint Special Envoy to Syria; he resigned holding the Syrian government’s “intransigence” and the “disunity of the international community” responsible for the lack of a peaceful solution. What steps should the international community be taking right now to address Syria?
- Africa policy: I am particularly interested to hear about Annan’s new initiative to tackle drug trafficking in West Africa. Annan commented that ignoring the narcotics trade in states like Guinea-Bissau will only lead to more problems further on. Somalia, he states, was ignored by the international community “until it came back to bite us in the form of central piracy.”
- Upcoming issues the US needs to address on the international stage: The Intro IR kids are taking notes, but really, wouldn’t we all like to know?
Annan is speaking at 4:30 pm on Thursday, February 7th in the Levinson Auditorium at the Yale Law School. The event is free and open to the public.