The Institute of Strategic Studies organized a Public Talk, titled “Role and Relevance of United Nations in the Contemporary Global Order“, under its Distinguished Lecture Series on January 22, 2019. The guest speaker at the occasion was H.E. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). The event was attended by members of the diplomatic corps, academics, students and researchers.
Welcoming the speaker and the guests, the Director General ISSI, Ambassador Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry said that the world today has changed in several ways. The United Nations (UN) has played a central role in forging a normative framework. Since 9/11 however, narrow nationalism is raising its head and the strategic landscape has undergone an enormous change as several conflicts have also festered. There is now an increasing trend to marginalize the UN altogether. For Pakistan, the UN has a special place, given that the organization has promised to resolve the Kashmir dispute, but unfortunately, it has yet to deliver on this promise. The Director General also said that Pakistan has played a special and important role in UN Peacekeeping operations.
