2008 Woodie Awards
A world of difference
By: Richard Graves
Issue date: 4/21/06 Section: Opinion
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Kofi Annan '61 will be visiting us this Saturday, to deliver an address that we have eagerly waited for. While we have basked in the attention from our alumnus serving as Secretary-General to the United Nations, he has tackled seemingly intractable problems like global poverty, global climate change, and conflict in Africa, with a budget one-seventh the size of NASA's. Kofi Annan's second term will expire next year and the new Secretary-General will face the problems of the world.
I recently returned from a trip to New York representing Honduras at the National Model United Nations conference. For the whole team, the highlight of the conference was meeting Tonderai Chikuhwa '96, from the UN Office for Children and Armed Conflict. Mr. Chikuhwa spoke of his experience advocating on behalf of children in conflict areas. He told fascinating stories of lobbying the Security Council, to trying to convince a thirteen-year old child soldier, high on cocaine, to put down the AK-47 he was holding in his shaking hand and leave with him to find the boy's family.
We talked about the proliferation of global problems, like global climate change, the spread of nuclear weapons, and the trafficking of human beings, and how we only have one place for truly global solutions. The United Nations charter charges it with “saving succeeding future generations from the scourge of war” and “reaffirming faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small.”
Yet the United Nations could not stop the United States in its march to war in Iraq or pressure the international community to live up to its promises and intervene in the genocide of Darfur. I had one question for Mr. Chikuhwa that day: where will the energy come from to reinvigorate the United Nations?
In this new era, Macalester must determine its responsibility to the world and its position in the international system embodied by the United Nations. As a student body, we dedicate ourselves to worthy causes and passionately debate global issues over dinner, and consequently when we return to our homes around the world we are richer for it.
I recently returned from a trip to New York representing Honduras at the National Model United Nations conference. For the whole team, the highlight of the conference was meeting Tonderai Chikuhwa '96, from the UN Office for Children and Armed Conflict. Mr. Chikuhwa spoke of his experience advocating on behalf of children in conflict areas. He told fascinating stories of lobbying the Security Council, to trying to convince a thirteen-year old child soldier, high on cocaine, to put down the AK-47 he was holding in his shaking hand and leave with him to find the boy's family.
We talked about the proliferation of global problems, like global climate change, the spread of nuclear weapons, and the trafficking of human beings, and how we only have one place for truly global solutions. The United Nations charter charges it with “saving succeeding future generations from the scourge of war” and “reaffirming faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small.”
Yet the United Nations could not stop the United States in its march to war in Iraq or pressure the international community to live up to its promises and intervene in the genocide of Darfur. I had one question for Mr. Chikuhwa that day: where will the energy come from to reinvigorate the United Nations?
In this new era, Macalester must determine its responsibility to the world and its position in the international system embodied by the United Nations. As a student body, we dedicate ourselves to worthy causes and passionately debate global issues over dinner, and consequently when we return to our homes around the world we are richer for it.
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