At the UN, September 21, 2007 is the International Day of Peace. It will be celebrated with a ceremony of ringing the Japanese Peace Bell. The Korean UN Secretary-General and the Japanese Head of the UN outreach programs, the Under-Secretary-General in charge of the Department of Public Information will be present. The young Japanese “Tarumi Violinists” will perform, and the United Nations singers will sing a “Song of Peace.”  Also in attendance will be Mrs. Ban Soon-taek, wife of the Secretary-General; Dr. Asha Rose Migiro, Deputy Secretary-General; Mr. Srgjan Kerim, President of the 62nd General Assembly. We saw missing from that list the President of the UN Security Council - the only body at the UN that has teeth. They usually do not spend time on illusioneering purpose.

Further, there will be present the Messengers of Peace Michael Douglas, Jane Goodall and Elie Wiesel, and Mr. Ban Ki-moon will announce the appointment of two new Messengers of Peace.
The roster of UN Messengers of Peace is as follows - and please Click on the following image, supplied by the UN, for a short biography of each of the Messengers.

Click here to learn more about celebrity advocacy and the United Nations.

You may have guessed it, all of the above is related to this year’s effort by the UN Secretary-General on behalf of raising the world’s attention on such matters as Global Warming/Climate Change and the killings in Darfur. This coming week - starting with this Friday and including the weekend - New York will be in a state of mayhem. Starting with Ahmedi-nejad, the city will be host to limousine convoys that will create gridlock-galore. Mega-speeches will wax over the issues - the Secretary-General intends this to become the biggest show on earth. We are being humbled by this effort and please remember our title of a previous article - “The UN and Climate Change are like a bad marriage; you cannot live with him and you cannot live without him” - we also know that the UN is needed and if it did not exist we would have had to create it - but for your own sanity - please - do not hang your hopes and your coat on the UN - it cannot, and will not, answer your needs.
We, just as a small example of folks that hang around the UN, we spent last week in Addis Ababa, and we intend to spend next week in Vietnam. We like to see what goes on in the real world and sometimes miss thus what goes on the UN stage in New York - though we were taught by UN officials recently in Vienna that the UN, like a large spider, tries to reach you even when you are afar.

The UN Department of Public Information is bringing to the attention of the journalists it accredited to the UN a WELCOME TO THE UN page explaining what the UN does.
We bring this also hereforth:

Welcome to the United Nations

• UN Millennium Development Goals
  By the year 2015, all United Nations Member States have pledged to meet these goals.
• UN News Centre
  Breaking news, United Nations Journal, Office of the Spokesman, press releases, and other resources.
• About the United Nations
  Charter, structure, who’s who, library, employment, webcam, etc.
• Main Bodies
  General Assembly, Security Council, and other United Nations bodies.
• Conferences & Events
  Conferences, events, meetings at headquarters and away, including NGO activities, public exhibitions, etc.
• Member States
  Lists, websites, e-mail addresses, etc.
• General Assembly President
  Biography, statements, bureau, predecessors, etc.

International Day of Peace (21 September 2007)

• Secretary-General
  Biography, statements, reports, predecessors, team, etc.
• Situation in the Middle East
  Latest news and developments in the Middle East: news stories, press releases, webcasts.
• Situation in Iraq
  Situation in Iraq, including the Oil-for-Food Programme.
• Renewing the United Nations
  Reform initiatives at the United Nations.
• UN Action against Terrorism
  Fighting terrorism, UN System response to threat.
• Issues on the UN Agenda
  Alphabetical listing from Africa to Health to Youth.
• Civil Society & Business
  Global Compact, procurement, partnerships, etc.
• UN Webcast
  Live webcast and archived videos of United Nations meetings and events.
• CyberSchoolBus
  Website for young people and teachers.

We will have a busy day today. It will include a special briefing by UNDP on “Adapting Development Efforts To Meet The Climate Change.” and then will follow up with a Heinrich Boell Foundation / Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) German sponsored event with the participation of H.E. Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, the former Prime Minister of Norway and the mother of it all - environment and development - and H.E. Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland who is still active around the UN. After that we take off for the weekend in order to preserve our sanity.