I.P.O. ANNUAL REPORT 2024

Vienna, 18 January 2025

P/RE/29811c

International Roundtable Conference

On 12 September 2024, the International Progress Organization hosted a roundtable consultation at Çırağanin Palace in Istanbul (Türkiye) on "Sovereignty and Coercion -- The United Nations in the Web of Power Politics." Experts from Austria, Brazil, China, Italy, Morocco, the Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland, Türkiye, and the United States, supported by academic team members from France and Italy, discussed issues of "The United Nations and the International Rule of Law," "The Security Council and Global Power Politics," The Dilemma of Sovereignty in the UN System," and "National Sovereignty or Global Governance?" Among the speakers were Mr. Mogens Lykketoft (Denmark), President of the 70th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Prof. Hassan Diab, former Prime Minister of Lebanon, and Dr. Karin Kneissl, former Foreign Minister of Austria. The speeches and papers will be published as Volume 40 of the series "Studies in International Relations."

NEW PUBLICATIONS

  • Responsibility in International Relations: Selected papers from an international roundtable consultation in Vienna. Studies in International Relations, Vol. XXXIX. Vienna: International Progress Organization, 2024, ISBN 978-3-900704-37-7.

  • Sovereignty and Coercion: The United Nations in the Web of Power Politics -- Documentation of an International Roundtable Consultation at Çırağan Palace in Istanbul. Vienna: International Progress Organization, 2024, ISBN 978-3-900704-40-7.

  • Non-Alignment in a Multipolar World. I.P.O. Online Papers. Vienna: International Progress Organization, 2024.

  • "Souveräne Gleichheit" im System der Vereinten Nationen: Rechtsprinzip oder leeres Versprechen? ("Sovereign Equality" in the UN System: Principle of Law or Empty Promise?) "Gespräche in Graubünden."  Vienna: International Progress Organization, 2024, ISBN 978-3-900704-39-1.

PalestinE / UNITED NATIONS

On 29 November 2024, the President of the International Progress Organization delivered a statement on behalf of civil society at a special United Nations meeting convened at the UN Office at Vienna by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. He criticized the ongoing indiscriminate attacks against civilians in Gaza and the West Bank and called for concrete and decisive action by the international community, including an arms embargo. In messages addressed to the meeting, the President of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, King Mohammed VI of Morocco, Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, condemned the military assault against Palestine and reiterated their support for a two-state solution.

The United Nations and Global Power Politics

On 19 February 2024, the President of the International Progress Organization addressed the delegates of the "World Forum on the Future of Democracy, Tech and Humankind" in Berlin (Germany). At a special panel on "The United Nations' Responsibility to Protect & Reform of the UN Security Council" he emphasized the need for major structural reform of the intergovernmental system of the UN, in particular as regards the composition of and voting procedure in the Security Council. Among the panelists were Mr. Hans Corell (Sweden), former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ms. Melissa Parke, Executive Director of ICAN -- The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, and Mr. Ivan Simonovic, Assistant-Secretary-General of the United Nations for Human Rights.

On 12 October 2024, the President of the International Progress Organization addressed the participants of an international forum at Lake Ohrid (North Macedonia) on the global governance dilemma of the United Nations. The meeting was convened by Prof. Gjorge Ivanov, former President of Macedonia, and attended, among others, by Mr. Miguel Ángel Moratinos, High Representative of the UN Alliance of Civilizations, and Mr. Alex Salmond, former First Minister of Scotland (UK).

 

Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

In May 2024, the International Progress Organization participated in the annual international book fair in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Dr. Hans Köchler, President of the I.P.O., gave a series of interview for the publishing house Mominoun Without Borders and met with H.E. Yasser Al Gergawi, President of Al Watan Fund (UAE). 

"DIALOGUE OR COEXISTENCE?"

On the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2024, Dr. Hans Köchler attended the launching of the book "Technology -- Democracy -- Dialogue of Cultures" (in Arabic language), a collection of lectures, translated by Dr. Hamid Lechhab (Morocco), dealing, inter alia, with human identity and self-determination in the age of technology; challenges to democracy and peace in the face of transformation from global unipolarity to a new multipolar order, and prospects of dialogue and/or coexistence between civilizations, with a special view on Muslim-Western relations.

Law of the SEA

Following up on the I.P.O. research project on the geopolitics of maritime boundaries (2020), the International Progress Organization will convene, in 2025, an international roundtable consultation in Malta on "The Law of the Sea in the Global Era: National Interest vs. the Common Good of Humanity." The meeting will commemorate the legacy of Ambassador Arvid Bardo (Malta) and Elisabeth Mann Borgese (Germany / daughter of Thomas Mann), the two global figures behind the eventual adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Information VisitS BY THE PRESIDENT

  • Republic of Cabo Verde (West Africa), 17-20 February 2024.

  • Malta, 21 to 24 October 2024: Working visit to prepare an international roundtable consultation on the law of the sea. Dr. Hans Köchler met, among others, with representatives of the International Ocean Institute (IOI) and the International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI) of the United Nations Maritime Organization (London).

  • Sofia, Bulgaria, 11-13 December 2024.

MEDIA INTERVIEWS

  • Online interviews for the readers of Mominoun Without Borders, Abu Dhabi, UAE, 30 April 2024.

  • Interview for Al Araby TV (Doha, Qatar) on the Lockerbie case, 8 May 2024.

Academic Team Members

In the course of 2024, Mr. Joël Christoph (France) and Mr. Davide Sirna (Italy) assisted with thematic preparation and publishing in connection with the annual roundtable consultations of the I.P.O.

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