On September 15, 2021, from 3:00 to 4:30, the BFIC Children Reporters met Deputy Director of WFUNA, Lee Young-jin. Due to COVID19, we couldn’t meet him face-to-face, so we met him online though the Zoom program. 

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Before we start, the WFUNA is shortened word for 'World Federation of United Nations Associations'

The first part was a lecture about the UN(United Nations). The lecture contents are summarized as follows.

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The first topic was about the process of establishing the UN. The UN is said to be an international organization established to prevent wars from occurring, because people thought “This (war) should not happen again” after World War I and II occurred. The Joint Declaration of the UN (Japan, Italy, Germany) took place in 1942 and 1943. Through various talks and proposals mainly in the UK, US, Soviet Union, and China, the UN Charter was signed on June 26, 1945 by 50 countries. Then the United Nations came into being on October 24, 1945.

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The purpose of the UN is;

1. Maintaining international peace and safety.

2. Developing friendly relations between countries.

3. Achieving international cooperation to solve economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian problems and promoting respect for human rights and basic freedoms.

4. Playing a central role in harmonizing state activities to achieve the above joint goals.

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The following are the functions of the United Nations. The functions of the United Nations includes maintaining international peace and safety, economic and social development, human rights protection, decolonization, and promotion of the development of international law.

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He also mentioned the key issues regarding the United Nations' activities. The UN has a wide range of activities, and the most important thing to take note of is the 'three pillars of the United Nations'. The three pillars of the UN refer to human rights, sustainable development, and peace and security. In addition, the United Nations actively tries to strengthen global citizenship education and activities for youth education. 

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The main six principal organs of the United Nations include the Secretariat, the International Court of Justice, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, and the Trusteeship Council. However, the Deputy Director said that there aren’t any currently active trusteeship meetings happening. The Trusteeship Council played a role in helping colonial countries stand on their own feet by helping them govern themselves instead. He said that Palau Island was last colony so after Palau became independent in 1994 they finished their job. Although this council did not disappear, he said that it is currently an inactive institution.

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There are four main offices of the United Nations. One is the UN headquarters, located in New York, USA, and the United Nations Geneva Office is located in Geneva, Switzerland. The city of Vienna in Austria has the United Nations Vienna Office. Finally, there is also the United Nations Nairobi Office in Nairobi, Kenya.

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There are six official languages of the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. There are ‘working languages’ among these, which are English and French. So basically, all documents are written in English and French. If your dream is to work in the UN, you'd better study English and French.

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He also gave an introduction about the UN’s Former Secretaries-General. He said that currently there is the 9th Secretary-General of the UN now. He also additionally mentioned that the 8th Secretary-General of the UN was Korean. He said that Ban Ki-moon was the Secretary-General of the United Nations from 2007 to 2016.

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The next lecture was about the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs). The outline of this lecture is organized below.

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The SDGs, simply put, are goals set the United Nations to be achieved until the year 2030. It can be said that they are an international commitment for sustainable development. Deputy Director Lee Young-jin emphasized several times that these goals of sustainable development can only be achieved by 2030 if all citizens, including students like us, become interested in these goals and try to achieve them. 

The definition of the SDGs is ‘development that meets the needs of the current generation without impeding the ability of future generations to meet their needs’. In short, they are goals that considers the health of the environment, and that we should conserve what we use and save as many resources as we can so that we can continue to use them in the future.

The SDGs are development goals that considers social inclusion, environmental sustainability, and economic development.

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Before the SDGs, MDGs(Millennium Development Goals) were in effect. Comparing the MDGs and SDGs, the MDGs consist of 8 main goals and 21 detailed goals, while the SDGs consist of 17 main goals and 169 detailed goals. Also, MDGs had been implemented only in advanced countries, and people realized that global problems are not problems that can only be solved by implementing MDGs in advanced countries. So, the SDGs were aimed at everyone, including both advanced countries and ordinary citizens. The MDGs also set goals that were centered on society such as poverty, medical care, and education, but the SDGs were set in consideration of societies, economies, and the environment. Finally, the most important difference was that only international organizations and governments participated in the MDGs, but through this, they realized that international organizations and governments alone can’t do everything, and the SDG’s were created for everyone to participate, including citizens.

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The following are the five components of the SDGs. These components include environmental protection (planet), economic development (prosperity), social development (people), and overall conditions and methods(peace, partnerships) Because the five components are planet, prosperity, people, peace, partnerships, these are called the “5P’s”.

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As such, it is important to recognize that the SDGs are for citizens and students to take interest in and participate. There are many things we can do to protect the environment, like saving energy. For example, we can carry tumblers instead of using paper cups, using reusable pouches or eco-bags instead of plastic bags, not littering, using zero-waste products, etc. The goal to accomplish all of the SDGs by 2030 can only happen if all of us actively participate, so we should all pay attention and become interested in them.

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Finally, we had a question-and-answer section after the lecture about the UN and SDGs. Some of the questions and answers are summarized below.

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Q: What is the difference between the UN and WFUNA?

A; The WFUNA is an independent organization that does not belong to the UN. Since the UN works for member countries, it mainly works with the government. However, WFUNA pays attention to citizens, and communicates to the UN the voices of the citizens. WFUNA also introduces the UN to citizens.

Q: I wonder what the International Court of Justice does.

A: The International Court of Justice judges or resolves disputes between countries or gives advice even if the disputes are not resolved.

Q: What do you (Deputy Director Lee Young-jin) do in the WFUNA?

A: I am in charge of educational programs for students. I teach students about what the UN does and the UN’s SDGs, and I do other administrative affairs, too.

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Thus, the meeting with deputy director of WFUNA, Lee Young-jin ended. During this lecture I learned a lot about the United Nations. It was a pity that I couldn't properly listen to the lecturedue to certain circumstances, but I think it was a very meaningful and precious time. I hope many people will read this article and learn a lot and pay more attention to the United Nations and its SDGs.

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Thank you for reading my article~!

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