I.P.O. ANNUAL REPORT 1999
Vienna, 22 January 2000/P/K/16706c
INTERNATIONAL ROUNDTABLE ON THE CHALLENGES OF GLOBALIZATION
From 18 to 19 March 1999 the international roundtable on "The Challenges of Globalization" was held at the University of Munich/Germany. The roundtable was jointly organized by the I.P.O. and the Jamahir Society for Culture and Philosophy in co-operation with the Department of Philosophy at the University of Munich. Experts from Austria, Canada, France, India, Japan, Libya, Luxemburg, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Turkey, the United States, and the United Kingdom presented research papers on philosophical, political, economic and cultural aspects of the globalization process. The Lord Mayor of Munich gave a reception for the participants.
NEW PUBLICATIONS
"Decision-making Procedures of the European Institutions and Democratic Legitimacy. How Can Democratic Citizenship be Exercised on the Transnational Level?" / "Procédures d'adoption des décisions dans les institutions européennes et légitimité démocratique. Comment la citoyenneté démocratique peut-elle s'exercer au niveau transnational?" By Hans Koechler. Vienna 1999.
"Al-dimuqratíah wa al-nidhám al-a'alami al-jadíd" (Democracy and the New World Order, Studies in International Relations, vol. XIX / Arabic). Center for International Strategic Studies. Baghdad 1999.
"The Palestinian People's Right of Self-Determination: Basis for Peace in the Middle East." (I.P.O. Occasional Papers Series, No. 2, re-published by IKIM Journal, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, vol. 7, no. 2, 1999)
Number 25 of the series "Studies in International Relations" will be
published in March 2000 under the title "Globality versus Democracy? The
Changing Nature of International Relations in the Era of Globalization" (ISBN
3-900704-19-8). The book contains the papers presented at the
international roundtable organized by the I.P.O. at the University of
Munich/Germany (18-19 March 1999). Among the contributors are General Edgardo
Mercado Jarrín (former Prime Minister of Peru), Professor Robert Charvin
(France), Professor Rajab Boudabbous (Libya), Professor Makoto Itoh (Japan), Mr.
Harcharan Singh Josh (President of the Indian Council for World Affairs),
Professor Dan Perdue (USA), and Dr. Michael O. Maduagwu (Nigeria).
ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
The International Progress Organization launched an interdisciplinary research project on the state of international law in the context of the unipolar world order. An international group of experts will analyze the impact of recent unilateral and regional initiatives in the field of peacemaking and humanitarian intervention on the international rule of law. As a first step, a research paper on "Humanitarian Intervention: The End of International Law?" (working title) will be prepared during the year 2000. The results of the experts' findings will be published in the series "Studies in International Relations."
On 27 May 1999 the International Progress Organization issued a Memorandum on the Indictment of the President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the President of the Republic of Serbia and Other Officials of Yugoslavia by the "International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991." The Memorandum was submitted to the United Nations Security Council.
INTERNATIONAL PEACE ACTIVITIES
On 25 April 1999, the International Progress Organization joined the co-ordination committee of the "Initiative Equidistance." The initiative was established by a group of NGOs and personalities of public life to propagate a peaceful settlement to the conflict in Yugoslavia / Kosovo. The President of the I.P.O. co-sponsored the joint appeal that was launched on 29 April 1999 ("The War in Kosovo Cannot Be Justified!"). Several public lecture meetings were held at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. The International Progress Organization issued several legal memoranda, news releases and appeals to the United Nations Security Council.
On 17 September 1999 the International Progress Organization joined the Charter for Global Democracy (Charter 1999) and co-issued a "Call for international accountability, equality, justice, sustainable development and democracy" to be forwarded to the forthcoming Special General Assembly of the United Nations ("Millennium Assembly") in the year 2000.
UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
An observer delegation of the I.P.O. participated in the fifty-fifth session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva (22 March - 30 April 1999).
UNITED NATIONS SANCTIONS POLICY
The I.P.O. submitted a humanitarian appeal to the President of the Security Council dealing with the impact of the comprehensive sanctions on the living conditions of the Iraqi population (5 February 1999). On 25 September 1999, the President of the I.P.O. sent a special message to the Foreign Office Minister of the United Kingdom dealing with the sanctions policy of the Security Council vis-à-vis Iraq.
RESEARCH PROJECT ON TRANSNATIONAL DEMOCRACY
Within the framework of an international research project on "European Studies for Democratic Citizenship," the President of the I.P.O. participated in the joint meeting of the Working Party on European Studies for Democratic Citizenship and the Expert Group on Democratic Citizenship at the headquarters of the Council of Europe (Strasbourg, 4-5 November 1999).
NGO COMMITTEE ON DEVELOPMENT
The Committee organized the following meetings at the United Nations Office at Vienna:
Seminar on Health and Development (in co-operation with Médecins sans frontières) (27 May 1999);
Seminar on Problems of the Foreign Debt of Developing Countries (2 July 1999);
Felicitation Meeting for the Laureate of the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize "Médecins sans frontières" (2 November 1999);
Seminar on Five Years after Copenhagen: The Worldwide Struggle Against Poverty and Unemployment (13 December 1999).
SPECIAL MEETINGS OF THE PRESIDENT
On 20 May 1999 the President of the I.P.O. met in Mexico City with Dr. Arturo Munoz Ledo, Vice-President of the I.P.O.
On 24 and 25 May 1999 the President of the I.P.O. held meetings in San José, Costa Rica with the outgoing Rector of the United Nations Peace University, Professor Francisco Barahona, and with the Secretary-General of the Latin American Faculty for Social Sciences (FLACSO), Dr. Wilfredo Lozano.
On 27 May 1999 the President of the I.P.O. met in Caracas, Venezuela with the Rector of the Simón Bolívar University, Prof. Freddy Malpica Pérez.
On 10 June 1999 the President of the I.P.O. attended a special reception for the students of the Vienna Program of the Central University of Iowa by H.E. Dr. Kurt Waldheim, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, at the office of the United Nations Association of Austria in Vienna.
On 8 October 1999 Prof. Koechler met in Tripoli with the former President of Algeria, Ahmed Ben Bella.
Prof. Koechler held meetings on the Palestine problem in connection with the inauguration of the Alfred Lilienthal Foundation for Palestinian Children (Washington, D.C., 30 October 1999).
On 27 and 28 November 1999 the President of the I.P.O. held consultation meetings in Baghdad on the issue of United Nations sanctions with the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, H.E. Tareq Aziz, and with the Minister of Justice of Iraq, H.E. Shibib Al-Maliki.
SPECIAL LECTURES BY THE PRESIDENT
On 8 May 1999 Prof. Koechler gave a lecture on "The Changing Concept of Democracy in Modern Political Philosophy" at the invitation of the Liberal Academy in Salzburg/Austria.
On 21 May 1999 Prof. Koechler was special guest at the news show of Radio Formula (Mexico City) on issues of the Kosovo war, international peace and globalization.
On 14 September 1999, Prof. Koechler gave a lecture at the University of Regina (Canada) on "The United Nations and International Democracy."
On 13 November 1999, he delivered a lecture at the conference on European Identity organized by the University of Zagreb (Croatia) on "Decision-making Procedures of the European Institutions and the Question of Democratic Legitimacy."
On 20 November 1999 the President of the I.P.O. delivered a lecture at the International Conference in Madrid "Interventionism against International Law: From Iraq to Yugoslavia. The Recourse to Economic Sanctions and War in the 'New World Order'" on "The United Nations and the Use of Force. On the Problematic Nature of the Concept of Humanitarian Intervention."
On 1 December 1999 he delivered a lecture on "The United Nations and the Use of Force" at the 4th World Symposium on the Green Book held in Tripoli (Libya).
PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
A delegation of the International Progress Organization participated in the opening ceremony of the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III) held in the presence of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Vienna (19 July 1999).
The International Progress Organization participated in the first session of the Follow-up and Coordination Committee of the Baghdad Conference (Baghdad, 27-28 November 1999).
CO-OPERATION WITH OTHER NGOs
The President of the I.P.O. was appointed as Member of the International Advisory Board of the Center for Balanced Development (CBD).
The President of the I.P.O. was appointed as member of the Presidium of the International Committee of Jurists in Support of Democracy and Human Rights in South Korea.
On 27 November 1999, the International Progress Organization joined a group of 1449 NGOs from 89 countries in an Appeal to the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Seattle ("Stop the Millennium Round!").
INTERNSHIPS
During the first half of 1999, Mr. Adam Mason (University of Iowa) served as intern at the head office of the I.P.O. in Vienna.