Press Release

SEOUL - WFUNA President, Ambassador Park Soo-gil, joined UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the 2012 International Conference on the Public Diplomacy and Culture, held in Seoul, Korea, on 26 October.

KOLKATA - The World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) and Education for All, a Kolkata-based NGO, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for strategic partnership to promote and collaborate on WFUNA's training programmes. The memorandum was signed by Mr Bonian Golmohammadi, Secretary General of WFUNA, and Mr H M Bangur, Trustee, Education for All, in the presence of Ms Kiran Mehra Kerpelman, Director, United Nations Information Centre (India & Bhutan) and Mr Sundeep Bhutoria, Member Trustee, Education for All.

NEW YORK - On 18 October 2012, WFUNA attended the ceremony dedicating the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, on Roosevelt Island in New York.

The event was opened by Ambassador William J. vanden Heuvel, Chair of the Four Freedoms Park Conservancy Board of Directors. Mr. vanden Heuvel is also President of the Friends of WFUNA.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke, paying tribute to President Roosevelt and his contribution to the founding of the United Nations.

NEW  YORK - STATEMENT ON THE GRAVE SITUATION IN SYRIA

The Executive Committee of the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA), elected by non-partisan civil society organizations in over 110 countries, is deeply concerned over the grave loss of life in Syria and expresses solidarity with the citizens of Syria who are confronting daily atrocities.

President of WFUNA Ambassador Park Soo Gil hosted a dinner on August 13 in honor of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Mrs. Ban during their visit to Seoul to participate in the closing event of Yeosu World Expo 2012.

As a global citizen’s movement, WFUNA would like to ensure that the creation of the next set of Millennium Development Goals is made open and inclusive to the global community beyond government bodies.  It is for this reason that WFUNA is proud to announce its collaboration with the Beyond 2015 global campaign.

WFUNA had the great pleasure of working with the Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) Masters of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy candidates on a group capstone project this past year.  The group, led by faculty advisor, Kathleen Callahan, and student managers Rachel Roberts and Alaine Marx, presented the culmination of their research efforts about WFUNA’s Go Beyond Fellowship program on Monday, 30 April 2012 to WFUNA staff and associated consultants. 

Ambassador Park Soo Gil, President of WFUNA, hosted a luncheon in honor of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during his visit to Seoul to participate in the Second Nuclear Security Summit on 26 March.

Mr. Thomas Weiss, Presidential Professor of Political Science and Director of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, spoke at the Church Center in New York on Wednesday, 18 April, on the topic of UN reform. In a session moderated by Mr. Bonian Golmohammadi, Secretary-General of WFUNA, Prof. Weiss further elaborated on the webinar in which he discussed his article in Acronym, "Can We Fix the United Nations?" and his forthcoming book on the same topic. Prof.

WFUNA would like to congratulate H.E. Jan Eliasson on his appointment as Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. 

An ardent advocate and supporter of WFUNA, Mr. Eliasson has always served as a champion of UNA-Sweden and the work of UNAs around the world. He was recently appointed by Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, to his post as Deputy Secretary-General, and will come into office on 1 July 2012.