In Larger Freedom in The UK
In early 2005 UNA-UK was tasked by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to conduct a public and expert engagement process on UN reform in the lead up to the UN Millennium Review Summit in September 2005.
A series of national and regional public debates were undertaken to examine the recommendations made in the UN Secretary-General's Report, In Larger Freedom. The purpose of the debates was to ensure the widest possible public input into the development of the UK government's priorities for the 2005 World Summit.
The events proved very popular, attracting a cross-section of society, including youth, trade unions, parliamentarians, NGOs, the armed services and academia. Common themes emerged: a clear and widespread support for a strengthened United Nations, and a reaffirmation of the UN's unique importance as both a forum for negotiating viable solutions to collective threats, and an instrument for taking collective action to meet diverse threats, from climate change to terrorism.
UNA-UK compiled a report based on the feedback received and supplemented this with expert input.
On 28 November at Portcullis House Foreign Office Minister Lord Triesman and UNA-UK Executive Director Sam Daws launched 'In Larger Freedom in the UK'. The launch took place following a talk by Edward Mortimer, Director of Communications and Chief Speechwriter in the UN Secretary-General’s Office, at the inaugural meeting of the United Nations All-Party Parliamentary Group. The audience included parliamentarians, UNA-UK members, staff from the UN family in London, civil servants and NGO representatives.
Read more about this topic: United Nations Association UK
Famous quotes containing the words larger and/or freedom:
“We are all conceived in close prison; in our mothers’ wombs, we are close prisoners all; when we are born, we are born but to the liberty of the house; prisoners still, though within larger walls; and then all our life is but a going out to the place of execution, to death.”
—John Donne (c. 1572–1631)
“It is better for a man to go wrong in freedom than to go right in chains.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)