IDLO Director-General Irene Khan concluded a mission to New York where she called on the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Asha-Rose Migiro, the Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, and senior officials in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Ms. Khan also met with the Permanent Representatives to the United Nations H.E. Luis Alfonso de Alba of Mexico and H.E. Carsten Staur of Denmark, who are serving as facilitators in the intergovernmental negotiations of the outcome of the September High Level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Rule of Law; with the Permanent Representatives of Austria, Bangladesh, Finland, and Sri Lanka; and the Deputy Permanent Representative of Switzerland.
In her meeting with Michelle Bachelet, Irene Khan emphasized the importance of women and girls’ empowerment to overcome social and economic exclusion and to combat and prevent crimes such as human trafficking.
On 19 April, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and IDLO, with support from the government of Italy, hosted a roundtable on the Contribution of Law to the Rio+20 Agenda, gathering over 100 participants, including several leading experts who shared their perspectives on national best practices in sustainable development law for the green economy, and on the contribution of international treaties and tribunals to sustainable development governance.
Irene Khan’s meetings at the UN Secretariat included: Mr. Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General, Department of Peacekeeping Operations, and Mr. Dmitry Titov, Assistant Secretary-General on the Rule of Law and Security Institutions; Ms. Patricia O’Brien, Under-Secretary General for Legal Affairs; Mr. Vijay K. Nambiar, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Myanmar; Ms. Judy Cheng-Hopkins, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support; Ms. Sarah Cliffe, Special Adviser and Assistant Secretary-General, Civilian Capacities; Mr. Sudaram Jomo Kwame, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, and Ms. Elizabeth Thompson, Assistant Secretary-General, Executive Coordinator, UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Meetings were also held with the Director of the Policy and Mediation Division, Department of Political Affairs; the Executive Head of the UN Democracy Fund; and the Executive Director of the UN Global Compact.
UNDP Officials encountered during the Director-General’s visit to New York included: Mr. Olav Kjørven, Assistant Administrator, and Ms. Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, Practice Director, Democratic Governance Group in the Bureau for Development Policy; Mr. Jordan Ryan Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Crisis Recovery and Prevention; and Mr. Bisrat Aklilu, Executive Coordinator, Multi-Donor Trust Fund.
Ms. Khan also gave a keynote speech in a joint IDLO/International IDEA Seminar, hosted by the Italian Permanent Mission to the UN, where Representatives in New York of all the Member States of both IDEA and IDLO gathered to discuss links between rule of law, democracy and development.
In addition, the Austrian Mission to the United Nations hosted a special meeting of UN delegates that are members of the “Group of Friends of the Rule of Law”, during which Ms.Khan briefed them on the work of IDLO and views were exchanged on the September High Level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Rule of Law.