UN's 62nd Anniversary marked in Oklahoma

Celebrate the United Nations

This month marks the 62nd anniversary of the United Nations, and you're invited to join a community celebration to honor the occasion in Oklahoma City:

UN Day Program & Luncheon
Saturday, October 20th -- 12 Noon
Tom & Brenda McDaniel University Center
Oklahoma City University

Tickets are $20. For registration information, please see below.

Increasingly, the world is recognizing the value of the United Nations as a resource for promoting human rights, conflict resolution, and sustainable development. For example, here are two items that have been in the news recently:

(1) Child Mortality Rates Plummet. Both the New York Times and the Washington Post reported good news last month on worldwide child mortality rates. ...The number of deaths of young children around the world has been cut in half since 1960, when these statistics were first recorded....

"Both articles gloss over the vital role that UNICEF has played in the decrease, but one doesn't have to look far for evidence. Through the Measles Initiative, UNICEF and its partners have vaccinated more than 375,000 children since 2001 and have been the driving force behind the 60 percent decrease in measles deaths worldwide...."

Source:
UN Dispatch
http://www.undispatch.com/archives/2007/09/global_child_mo.php

(2) Wars are on the Wane Worldwide. The increasing number of UN peacekeeping missions has had a measurable impact on the number of wars in our world. Here are some representative quotes from various sources:

"Notwithstanding the escalating violence in Iraq and the widening war in Darfur, the new data indicate that from the beginning of 2002 to the end of 2005, the number of armed conflicts being waged around the world shrank 15% from 66 to 56."

"...At least four academic centers that track world conflicts report the same downward trend in global warfare and lesser conflicts: the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute; the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo, Norway; the Center for International Development and Conflict Management at the University of Maryland in College Park and the Human Security Centre at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver."

"The Human Security Report 2005 showed a strong correlation between the sharp decline in armed conflicts and the deployment of peace missions."

Source:
Human Security Report 2005
http://www.humansecurityreport.info/index.php?option=content&task=view&i...
Human Security Brief 2006
http://www.humansecuritycentre.org/images/stories/HSBrief2006/contents/o...
SIPRI Yearbook 2006
http://www.sipri.org/contents/publications/pocket/pocket_yb.html

On Saturday, the 20th, we'll reflect on these successes while we consider the future of "The United Nations for the New Millennium." Our keynote speaker will be Ambassador Kenneth Tillett, an instructor at Southwestern Oklahoma State University and formerly the Permanent Representative to the United Nations from the country of Belize.

You can read more about our program here ...

http://www.una-okc.org/2007okc.html

...where you can find out how to reserve your tickets.

When President Bush addressed the UN General Assembly in September, 2005, he said:

“The world is more compassionate and hopeful when we act together. This truth was the inspiration for the United Nations.”

Please join us as we celebrate this necessary world institution.

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Check out our chapter's webpage at ...
www.una-okc.org
With news about ...
<> Our Celebration of the Internatioal Day of Peace;
<> The 'Global Oklahoma Festival' -- October 13th; and
<> More!


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