Mallica Vajrathon

Diana Butterfly

Why This Recklessness?

Previously on my blog, I have spoken about my dear friend Rita Childers’s community outreach and amongst my collection of family papers, I came across a very interesting piece that she sent me in 1977. As you can see, her handwriting is on top of the page itself. In it she discusses the recklessness of drinking among youth in Ireland at an address she gave in Cavan called The Pioneer Seminar. Being that 2010 is the International Youth Year, I felt that this would be another nice way to remember my mother-in-law, the former first lady and wife of President Erskine H. Childers. Youth issues were a big concern for her, in relation to the future of Ireland. You can read the full article by clicking here.

Tara Seeds

Peace & Security Negotiations

There are not many countries that have a woman as a foreign minister. United States is an exception in having consecutively three very competent female foreign ministers (Secretaries of States): Madelene Albright, Condolessa Rice, and Hillary Clinton. It is encouraging to read in the August 22 Washington Post an article by Mary Beth Sheridan – in nuclear negotiations more women are at the table for the United States. She conveyed good news that women now hold many key senior positions at the Pentagon and the White House. And that they occupied between 21 and 29 percent of the senior positions at the State Department and other national security and foreign policy agencies. Does it make a difference to content when women negotiate national and international security and peace issues? Some people thought it does not, for the reason that whether the negotiators are male or female, government officials have to follow instruction in speakig on behalf of the government. They said that gender was not an issue there. But I disagree with them. Public perception of women with political power does make a difference to the goal of gender equality and democracy. In todays world, educated women are as concern about issues of national and international security as the men. And they know that they can make a difference to the foreign policy content and cooperation. It is not that I beleive in the myth that women are more peace-loving than men. In all my years of working internationally, I have come across an equal proportion of aggressive behavior of men and women. And history has also shown that women and men have an equal share in creating conflic within their community and in the outside world. I think that both sexes have to be equally responsible to end conflict by engaging in negotiation for a peaceful outcome.Ten years ago, the United Nations Security Council passed a landmark Resolution1325 on Women, Peace and Security. It is a roadmap to promote women’s full engagement in peace and security negotiations. But up to now only 20 countries have adopted the Plan of Action on its implementation. The male government leaders have not shown interested to work with women on security matter. For example, in nuclear negotiation between United States and Russia, in surprise, a Russian general asked the American team led by a woman, “How come you‘ve got so many women?”. Most countries find it hard to appoint qualified women to work at senior level in foreign affairs, national defense, Intelligence, law enforcement and international relations, the fields that few women choose to study and to make their career in a male-dominated working environment with long hours of work and travel. Only a few women without family responsibility can endure such hardship, thrive in it, and advance to the top senior level.

Orchids

Youth Dialogue

I graduated in Political Science from Chulalongkorn University in 1958, the year that I was selected by the Department of International Organizations of Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to go to New York to participate in the United Nations’ Intern Program for College Students. At that time, the United Nations was only ten years old. That experience had changed my life. Meeting with 48 other graduate student-interns from around the world and working together with them for six weeks at the United Nations Headquarters, I decided that my future work will be at an international level, and not local in my own country. I wanted to spend my whole life working towards the goal as set out in the UN Charter for future peace and development. Later, I had spent more than three decades of my professional life as staff of UNICEF, UNFPA, and at the United Nations Headquarters.
Since the focus of my work had been in children and youth development, support by planned communication programs and projects, I am happy that the United Nations has declared 2010 as International Youth Year beginning on August 12. This year young women and men will have their golden opportunities to put their collective imagination and energy to charge out a new course for human rights, and sustainable development. One of the important events for the year is the Global Model United Nations Conference hosted by Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur from 14-18 August. University-level students come together for a dialogue on the challenges facing our world today. I wish I could be there to listen on what they have to say under the Conference’s theme,“Towards An Alliance of Civilizations: Bridging Cultures to Achieve Peace and Development”. I follow the youth dialogue at the Conference via internet which I am quite sure, will create new cross-cultural and cross-generations understanding of the problems that we face today. I think this event is important to the United Nations work for peace and development cooperation in the years to come. The experience at this conference will also change students’ lives-making them global citizens.

Caterpillar

New Entity “UNWomen”

By separating women out as a new entity, the United Nations has gone backward over four decades. I don’t think this is a wise move. It shows that the world communities have failed to take action which they had agreed upon at four UN-organized world conferences held from 1975-1995. It is not a “progress” as claimed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, some government representatives, and the women non-governmental organizations.
Creating a separate “UNWomen” in the United Nations organization is “sexism”. It is an “apartheid” based on gender. I don’t think the goal of “gender equality” can be reached by following this path because it marginalised women. It push women out to the sideline of mainstream United Nations work in human rights, sustainable development and peace. I predict that the “UNWomen” entity will soon turn itself into a “female guetto” with inadequate resource, led by a high-level woman at Under Secretary-General level. No matter who is selected for this post, she will become “one issue person” with little influence, while leaving the UN to remain a male dominated structure. I have seen a photograph of a female delegate from Qatar visiting with Secretary Ban Ki-moon to offer a gifth of $100 million to UNWomen entity, if it can be moved from UN Headquarters to a location in her country. This has become a political game at the United Nations. I also hear news of female politicians from many countries lined up to be interviewed by the Secretary-General for the post, which no one knows where the money for it will be coming from.
On the subject of separating women out of the main activities of an organization, I have recently read a good article by CV Harquail, “Separate Still Isn’t Equal: Sexism Among Technology Entertainment and Design” (TED) in huffingtonpost.com on July 28. She wrote: “Once upon a time, it makes sense to creat separated conferences for women. Women thinkers and activists were so marginal, so subordinate, and so far from the public platform that separate conference were virtually the only way to create space for women to present, discuss and promote their ideas.These days there are only two situation where separate conferences for women are politically, socially and intellectually legitimate. The first situation is when the topic touches on women alone, such as conference on menopause. The second situation is when the purpose of the conference is to bring women together to addressed women’s own, self dertemined needs”.
Instead of moving backward on this issue, the United Nations should move forward on “gender mainstreaming” and “gender parity” personnel policy. The whole structure of the United Nations was created for men and women to work together on the basis of equality as written in the UN Charter. If the UN is going to have a separate entity called “UNWomen”, it also should have a separate entity called “UNMen”. Both sexes need behavior and attitude change on gender equality issue.

Nymphanburg Forest

Getting On The Twitter Bandwagon

Twitter is very popular in Thailand. Thais love to twit, passing on to their friends and social network, news that they hear or events that happens on a daily basis. During the April-May of this year’s Red Shirts’crisis, Bangkok people used Twitter to connect with one another. They shared information about safe and unsafe locations to hang out in the city. They warned their friends of dangerous locations where street fightings were going on in the city. Thanks to Twitter, many people had managed to avoid getting hit by bullets by not walking into a crossed-fire when shooting began between Red Shirts’ guards and soldiers. On the night that the Government lifted the curfew in Bangkok, Twitters (Tweeples as they named themselves in Thailand) connected with their friends to meet for a celebration at Q bar/restaurant on Sukhumvit.
More and more young people in Thailand follow news from famous twittering journalists @suthichai and/or @tulsathit. They also get breaking news on politics, business, traffic and weather from key TV and newspapers Twitters, @ktnews, @nnanews, @nattha_tvthai and @noppatjak, before anybody else. By June of this year, 178,181 people twitted one another in Thai language. My estimation is that about half of the these Twitters/tweeples are women. For example: “Venus”, one of the well-known female columnists of the Nation wrote in her June 5 column that at first she was skepticle, because it was almost impossible for her to speak her mind in 140 characters. But last May, she jumped on the bandwagon and opened an account with Twitter. She twittted sparingly at the beginning. She did not know why people were following her, and she rejected a few of them.
Without Thailand’s Red Shirts criisis, she would never have discovered what Twitter really means and does. She had become a changed person. She twittedt at home, in the office, in the car and train. She joined women who took make-up away from carry bag and replaced it with a charger. She had come to appreciate that Twitter can also save lives. During the Red Shirts crisis, on April 11, Phra Monkutklao hospital received enough blood from donors through Twitters. She then came to the conclusion that “Twitters makes you think better and becomes a better writer. It teaches you to keep training and trying for more concise messages – no more beating around the bush. Your vocabulary and abreviations will be enriched. So many new creative terms to learn. And for meeting among Tweeple, it is called “tweet ups”. And #ff means “follow Friday”. You learn new items almost everyday.”