This Year's UNA Convention was held at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York from February 28, through March 4. The Convention was well attended by many Chapters & Divisions nationwide.

The National Staff had worked hard to make the meetings informative and run on time.

Highlights:

-Thursday, March 1, AM, Welcome Session, & Report by President Luers: The message was that the United States is facing many "big" challenges which are not being addressed and yet our country's Leadership are focusing on many "little" problems.  Among the major problems remains the mistake in going to war with Iraq. Iran remains a challenge for the US. The New S.G. has been at the helm for two months and many issues such as Iraq, Iran, Korea and Sudan continue to be the challenges the new S.G. will face.

The Welcome Session was followed by four Breakout sessions on:

  -How can the United Nations Make a Difference in the Middle East.
   -The Darfur Crises
   -Climate Change & Sustainability
   -WMD & New Threats: Is Nuclear Nonproliferation Possible?

 
Thursday PM: Hearing on Resolutions & Amendments:

Total of 17 Resolutions were discussed with fifteen adopted on Sunday. Two resolutions were on Iraq, one from the Seattle Chapter and one from SCD-Citrus Chapter.

This topic probably raised the most dynamic discussion with a bit of controversy, both on Thursday as well as on Sunday during final voting. The reasons for the controversies were as follows:

a) It had become the policy that any resolution submitted after 12 AM of December 31, 2006 were not accepted or listed in the official Resolutions Packet.

b) Resolutions that had been submitted by the deadline, were not published in their original texts. When asked why? Justification was that because the Resolution Committee had discussed changes to the texts with the original authors (but not cosponsors, as they claimed that they did not known other cosponsors at the time the changes were made)

c) To some Resolutions, changes were made to drastically alter the content of the Resolutions.

Specifically, our Southern California had only one official resolution accepted which was on Iraq, from our Citrus Chapter. This resolution had been sponsored by our Whittier Chapter also. However, its text had been altered in such a way that it came as a deliberate attempt to make it irrelevant to the original intent. Its content however, had been worded that was very similar to the Resolution from Seattle which was more extended in its scope. On Thursday, both, Carl Mariz (President, Coastline Chapter) and myself spoke at the microphone to why such a drastic change to the Citrus Resolution which any reference to "referendum" as a mean to resolve some of the Iraq's problems and "right to self-determination" were fully eliminated from the text. The answer was that they had discussed the changes with Harry Hood (President of the Citrus Chapter) in advance, and that he had agreed to the changes. We further asked that the Resolution had a cosponsor (Whittier Chapter), had they been consulted? no was the answer. Carl then asked for the withdrawal of the Citrus Resolution, since what was left in the text, had already been addressed in the Seattle Resolution. That was accepted by the committee. However, after the meeting, we were told that we can still resubmit an amendment to the Citrus Resolution to say what we wanted to cover. So, I took it upon myself to write a new Resolution with the help of Carl, and submit as the substitute amendment to the washed-down version (see attached).

When Sunday, came to vote on Resolutions, some minor changes were made, but the essence of the Resolution's intent which called for resolving the territories disputed between the Kurdish Region and other Regions in Iraq, to be settled through referendum and by creating three different regions, see Biden/Gelb Proposal. In addition a prominent US Ambassador Peter Galbraith had advocated this approach as well. Therefore, the Resolution I wrote was in the spirit of this approach by asking a UN sponsored Referendum which is also called for by the Iraq constitution, and in case of the City of Kirkuk Article 140 of the Iraq Constitution. Also, please see,
British MP asks UK to support Kirkuk referendum:

I might also add, that my feeling about the Seattle Resolutions, in its entirety, was that it was too unrealistic and conservative in one way and too radical in another way. In my opinion, the author and the Committee were taking side with the "Iraq Study Group" recommendations. It also, in many ways it had most of the washed-down version of the Citrus Resolution in it.

Furthermore, during the discussion of the amendment to the Seattle Resolution it appeared to me that the position of the Committee was to support the Baker/Hamilton (Iraq Study Group) position, and not a democratic process through referendum and the involvement of the UN in the process to a peaceful transition.

After defending my position that why the Iraq Study Group recommendation will not work, and that the referendum approach shall be adopted, my amendment to the resolution did not muster enough vote to pass and it was tabled by the proponent of the Seattle (Iraq Study Group), please see, plus some other radical and unrealistic ideas was adopted at the end!

A copy of my simple resolution is attached (see Division Resolutions), for Seattle Resolution please call the UNA office at (212-907-1300)

I might also add, that throughout the Convention, Lyn Harris, our government relations chair, must have called a thousand times and faxing other resolutions which had not been accepted because of not meeting the deadline. I thank Lyn for all the work she did, however, she was told many times not to bother sending in more resolutions and amendments as they were not acceptable.

For your further knowledge, based on the Iraq Study Group recommendations to talk to Iraq's neighbors, this coming Saturday, March 10, a Summit by Iraq neighbors is scheduled to address the Iraq problems. I am certain that neither Syria, Turkey (if attends) or Iran will agree to what I was trying to pass by the resolution. No referendum, no Federalism and no strengthening of the Regional governments, particularly the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in the North is what the neighbors want. This is considered to be caving in to the pressure and demands of the nondemocratic powers in the region and here at home. I came away with a feeling that our own UNA national was in support of the Hamilton/Baker approach too, and resisted any language along referendum!

Friday, March 2,

Included a Plenary Session on UN-US Relations and several Breakout Sessions including:

-Trafficking in Girls: A Global Crises
-Managing International Migration
-Global Policy Project: Implementation of the MDGs
- The Art of Engagement: How to build your chapter.
-Widening the UNA-USA Outreach and Appeal:
-Working with the new Congress
-Coalition building and forming a Council of Organization
 
Evening Award Banquet. Master of Ceremony, Richard Roth CNN's UN correspondent.

Saturday, March 3,

The first meeting of the day began with Council of Chapters and Divisions Regional Assemblies:

At this meeting the following California Delegation met:

Delegation approved the result of the CCD election followed by a discussion of the 2007 Action Plan.

Division Priorities were Approved as follows:
1- Expanding Communications
2-Undertaking Programs
3-Building Membership
4-Developing Financial Resources

Ardi Rashidi will produce an implementation plan that will involve the Division Vice Presidents and Advocacy Chairs to accomplish the above goals.

At the meeting a suggestion by a prominent member of the UNA was made that people may wish to make the UNA Chapter or Division to be the recipients of funds in their personal will. President Ardi Rashidi welcomed such a gracious idea and expressed that this will be an act of generosity that will keep the legacy of loyalty to the UNA alive and in perpetuity.

Saturday PM: Member's day at the UN Headquarters.
 
-Kofi Annan's Term remembered by Gillian Sorensen

The highlight of the day was the idea of new UN:
"Peace Making"
"Peace Building" &
"Peace Keeping"

Sunday, March 4,

The following Resolutions were voted on:

1- Supporting the Responsibility of State to Protect.
    By the National Capital Area & UNA Advocacy Committee.
   
2- Supporting UN Peacekeeping Forces by UNA-USA Advocacy Com.

3- United Nations Reform to Promote Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment.  By Greater Philadelphia Chapter

4- International Prohibition against Torture and Cruel, inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
    By Bucks County (PA) Chapter

5- Genocide in Darfur, by NY City Chapter & UNA-USA Advocacy Com.

6- The Promotion & Protection of Human Rights.
    (National Capital Area)

7- International Criminal Court

8- Iraq (A)    Citrus Chapter (CA)

9- Iraq (B) Seattle Chapter

10- The Environment and the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
By Boulder County (Co), East Bay and Northern California Division and the UNA-USA Advocacy Com.

11-Middle East Peace and Security.        UNA-USA Advocacy Com. and the Southern, NY State Division.

12-Strengthening Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament.
   By UNA-USA Advocacy Com.

13-Supporting the Nonproliferation Regime and World Peace.
    By Greater Boston Chapter

14- The Millennium Development Goals.    By UNA-USA Advocacy Com.

15- Human Trafficking.        By NY City Chapter

16-Supporting UN Reform.    By UNA-USA Advocacy Com.

17-Strengthening US Engagement with the UN    By UNA-USA Advocacy Com.
 
Sunday PM: National Board Meeting (I had to leave to return home)

This concludes my report from the 2007 UNA-USA Convention, New York, NY, Feb. 28, March 4, 2007.

Ardishir Rashidi-Kalhur
President,
SCD-UNA-USA