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Bartels World Affairs Fellowship

Joschka Fischer, the 2007 Bartels World Affairs Fellow, speaks at Cornell University.

Read more about Joschka Fischer and the Bartels World Affairs Fellowship.

Former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General calls for leaders with a vision and high goals

Posted on: 2/13/2007

The Senior Advisor at the U.N. Foundation and former U.N. Assistant Secretary-General, Gillian Martin Sorensen, addressed issues for the new UN Secretary General from an American perspective in her public lecture on February 7, 2007. The lecture was part of the Einaudi Center’s Foreign Policy Distinguished Speaker Series.

As the United Nations enters the 61st year of its founding and welcomes Ban Ki-Moon as new Secretary-General, Sorensen talked about the challenges that the incoming leadership in the U.N should address. These challenges relate to peace and security issues such as the Darfur crisis, conflicts in the Middle East, situation in Iraq, disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation, and U.N. peace keeping missions. Other challenges include reaching the millennium development goals by lifting people out of poverty, illiteracy and despair, improvements on tackling climate change, global health problems such as HIV/AIDS and avian flu, and protecting human rights. “Despite its flaws and weaknesses, I believe the U.N. has enormous strength and potential (…). There is no alternative to the U.N.”

Sorensen used her depth of experiences working for the U.N. Foundation and the U.N. to offer her analysis of the U.N.-U.S. relationships. She characterized the United States - U.N. relationship as one of “love – hate.” “There’s an incredible rift between the United States and the rest of the world, largely due to the Iraq war.” Criticizing the United States for harming the international community, Sorenson emphasized that diplomacy is more than words, but also tone and actions. The real challenge for the U.S. leadership is how it “acts so that it earns respect and how it uses the power it has in ways that other people honor.” She welcomed the appointment of a new U.S. ambassador to the U.N. who is expected to be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Sorensen urged college students to gain international experience and knowledge. By being exposed to foreign cultures here and abroad like in the Peace Corps Program, students increase their global awareness. She encourages students to have high goals and use these as a driving force to make things happen.

Before joining the United Nations Foundation, Sorensen served as Assistant Secretary-General for External Relations on appointment by Secretary-General Kofi Annan from 1997 to 2003. Prior to that, Sorensen served from 1993 to 1996 as Special Adviser for Public Policy on appointment by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali where her duties included directing the U.N.’s global Fiftieth Anniversary observances in 1995. Sorensen earlier served for over 12 years (1978-1990) on appointment by Mayor Edward I. Koch as New York City Commissioner for the UN and Consular Corps, head of the City’s liaison with over 30,000 diplomats is the world’s largest diplomatic community.

In his introductory remarks, Professor Nic van de Walle, Director of the Einaudi Center, highlighted that the Distinguished Speaker Series is part of the Foreign Policy Initiative of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. Other speakers in this Series lined up for the Spring Semester are John Mearsheimer (University of Chicago, March 28), Shibley Telhami (University of Maryland, April 12), and David Calleo (John Hopkins University, April 24). Joschka Fischer (former German Foreign Minister) has been named the 2007 Bartels World Affairs Fellow and his talk is scheduled on April 18.

Contact Information
Heike Michelsen
Einaudi Center
255 8926
hm75@cornell.edu

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