On August 3rd, 8 student interns at the United Nations Headquarters visited the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations to attend a briefing by Ambassador Kodama, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations.

        Ambassador Kodama explained democratic movements in Middle East which was described as the “Arab Spring”, and the response by the Security Council towards the movements.  Ambassador Kodama also touched upon the norm of “Responsibility to Protect” to describe how it affects the response of the United Nations towards conflict situations. Ambassador Kodama then extended the idea to the Russian and Chinese vetoes against the situation in Syria, and explained those vetoes are one of major obstacles that limits possible effective actions by the Security Council.  In addition, Ambassador Kodama explained about the Japanese position and necessity of Security Council Reform.

        Lastly, Ambassador Kodama answered questions by the participants, while they were attentive to the briefing.