Information Note

UNIS/VIC/100
17 September 2002

UNITED NATIONS VIENNA PROGRAMMES TO MARK
FIRST GLOBAL CEASE-FIRE DAY

Vienna International Centre
Friday, 20 September 2002

VIENNA, 17 September (UN Information Service) -- The work of the United Nations Vienna programmes in building and maintaining international peace will be discussed at a symposium to be held at the Vienna International Centre (Multimedia room -- G0545) on Friday, 20 September at 11.30am. The event marks United Nations Global Cease-Fire Day which was formerly known as International Day of Peace. Until this year the day was celebrated on every third Tuesday of September to coincide with the opening of United Nations new General Assembly session but a resolution by the Assembly has fixed the celebrations of the Day for 21 September every year and designated this day as a day of global cease-fires and non-violence.

The ninety-minute symposium will focus on the role of the Vienna-based UN bodies in peacekeeping and peacebuilding and how their work in the fields of drug control and fighting crime contributes to making cease-fires last and transforming them into a durable peace.

Antonio Maria Costa, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP) will deliver an opening statement. This will be followed by an overview of the Organization’s work in peacekeeping and peacebuilding by Nasra Hassan, former Chief of the United Nations Peacekeeping Best Practices Unit and currently the Chief of Inter-Agency Relations and Fund Raising Branch of ODCCP. Catherine Volz, Chief of the Treaty, Legal Affairs and Commission Secretariat Branch of ODCCP will then review the drug control related work of the Office in maintaining international peace while Jan Van Dijk, the Officer-in-Charge of the Centre for International Crime Prevention (CICP) will brief the audience on the peacekeeping and peacebuilding related work of CICP. The statements will be followed by an open discussion forum.

Representatives of the media, NGOs and academia as well as Permanent Missions and staff of the VIC-based organizations are invited to attend.

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