Former U.N. Under-Secretary-General Anwarul K. Chowdhury To Teach Honors College Seminar at Lehman College
This fall, former U.N. Under-Secretary-General Anwarul K. Chowdhury will bring his message of peace to Lehman’s Macaulay Honors College in a new seminar, titled “Culture of Peace.” More than just a course on the U.N.’s efforts to spread its message, the seminar aims to empower and motivate students to take active measures to create environments of peace.
Adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1999, the “Declaration and Program of Action on Culture of Peace” represents the U.N.’s vision of how to achieve world peace through individual efforts. Ambassador Chowdhury chaired the nine-month-long negotiations that led to the adoption of what is considered to be one of the most significant legacies of the U.N.
“Culture of Peace” will focus on the program’s historical and conceptual context and its evolution at the global level; the U.N.’s strategies for spreading the culture of peace and its message throughout the world; the role of the individual and of civil society; and the future of “Culture of Peace” as a global movement.
“Lehman students will gain first-hand knowledge about the complexity of making, managing, and maintaining peace in what appears to be a multi-polar and fragmented world,” explains Prof. Deena Bernstein, acting dean of Art and Humanities. “Lehman College is privileged to have Ambassador Chowdhury, an ambassador and former Under Secretary and High Representative for the United Nations, join us in leading this dialogue.”
In 1946, the first meetings of the U.N. Security Council on American soil were held on the Lehman campus. This spring, the College held a “homecoming” for U.N. staff members who served with the organization during that time.
Ambassador Chowdhury, who joins the Lehman faculty as a visiting professor, previously collaborated with Lehman as one of the sponsors of a joint peace conference held in Hiroshima, Japan, in 2006. He served from March 2002 until June 2007 as the U.N. Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States. Prior to that, he was the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the U.N. in New York from 1996-2001, as well as President of the UN Security Council for two terms in 2000 and 2001 and Vice President of the Economic and Social Council in 1997 and 1998. He also served for more than ten years as Coordinator for the Least Developed Countries and was the UNICEF Director for Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.
A recipient of the U Thant Peace Award and UNESCO’s Gandhi Gold Medal for the Culture of Peace, Ambassador Chowdhury received an honorary doctorate from Soka University of Tokyo.
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Contact: Yeara Milton/718-960-7963