Events

Eight Japanese junior and senior high school students who won awards at a national speech/essay contest visited the Permanent Mission of Japan through the Oku-Inoue Commemorative Youth UN Visit Program. They had two days (March 22-23) to visit UN organizations and the Permanent Missions of other countries to the UN as well.

During their visit to the Permanent Mission of Japan, Ambassador Bessho gave welcoming remarks and reflected on his memories with Ambassador Oku. He then shared his personal experiences as a diplomat and gave some advice to the students who are in the middle of deciding their future careers. Counsellor Mase and Secretary Kinoshita also shared their motivation for becoming a diplomat and what it is like to work for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as international organizations, in connection with the United Nations. 

Through the two-day program, students received briefings and lectures with several organizations. On the morning of the 22nd, the students met with UN Women staff members and learned about gender equality and the right for everyone to play an active role in their society.

They also learned about the importance of achieving gender equality in the current society through various cases. (For example, women can be more vulnerable to natural disasters than men, one possible reason being that only men were taught how to swim in some areas.) In the afternoon, they met with officers of the Mission of Iraq, and after observing a moment of silence to Ambassador Oku and Secretary Inoue, upon initiative of the official of the mission of Iraq, they learned about the current situation and issues in Iraq. The Mission of Iraq also expressed their appreciation for Japan’s support for Iraq’s nation-building.

On the 23rd, they visited the US Mission where the students raised questions on various topics such as the role of UN. They then visited UNICEF where one of their officers gave a lecture based on her experience in Afghanistan.

During this program, they also attended a briefing by the Japanese UN staff and had a luncheon with Japanese UN staffs working at the UN and UN related organizations. In the briefing they discussed the issues of peacebuilding and conflict prevention in an interactive manner, with the Japanese UN staff asking the students questions. She also explained the new structure of the UN under the new Secretary-General, H.E. Mr. Antonio Guterres. During the luncheon, they discussed on various issues the international community is facing, and experiences on the field as well as the challenges and joy of working as UN staff.