Martin Forum Programs

“Japan’s International Cooperation”

3:30 p.m., Commons Whitewater Room

Consul General Namba will give a presentation on "Japan's International Cooperation" including the U.S.-Japan relationship. He will elaborate on Japan's international efforts, which include hosting the G8 Summit and the Tokyo International Conference on African Development last year. CG Namba earned his degree in commercial science from Keio University in Tokyo, Japan. He entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1972 and since has served in many of Japan’s foreign posts, including cities in the U.S., India and Zimbabwe. He also served in the Permanent Mission of Japan to the U.N. in Geneva, Switzerland. After serving as the senior coordinator for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Developing Economies Division, he became director of the ministry’s Multilateral Cultural Cooperation Division. Prior to assuming his current post as consul general of the Northwest region, Namba served as director of the Overseas Disaster Assistance Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Atomic Bomb Memorial”

9 a.m. – 8 p.m., Commons Clearwater Room

The Martin Institute partners with the Hiroshima Peace Project to recall the scarring effects of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A photo exhibit will be presented Jan. 12-31 in the Teaching and Learning Center Corridor Gallery and feature some 30 photographs shot before and after the bombings. The bombs killed as many as 140,000 people in Hiroshima and 80,000 in Nagasaki by the end of 1945, roughly half the deaths occurring on the days of the bombings. Since then, thousands more have died from injuries or illness attributed to radiation poisoning. To date, these are the only attacks with nuclear weapons in the history of warfare.

On Wednesday, Jan. 28, the Institute will sponsor a small-scale version of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum in the Idaho Commons Clearwater Room. The museum's vision came from Neil Shibe, a senior in international studies who studied abroad in Japan and volunteered at the museum in Nagasaki. Similar to the official museum in Japan, the display will feature additional visual artifacts and taped testimony from the survivors. Visitors will also be able to make origami cranes (an international symbol of peace) to be sent to a children’s museum in Japan.

“The Palestinian Refugee Crisis”

7:00 p.m., location TBA

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine was established 60 years ago to provide short-term relief to people displaced from their homes in Palestine; the short-term work has since stretched on as an appropriate solution has not been identified. Andrew Whitley is the Director of the UNRWA Representative Office in New York. He was appointed in March 2006. A 12-year veteran of the United Nations, he first served with the UN Conference on Trade and Development in Geneva, as Chief of the Secretary-General’s Office and its External Relations Service; then with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, in a variety of senior posts in the East Timor and Kosovo missions, UNTAET and UNMIK, handling state-building, political and refugee issues. In July 2002, Mr. Whitley was appointed Director of the External Relations Department of UNRWA, responsible for donor relations and fundraising for the Agency’s regular and project budgets, as well as for emergency appeals arising from the humanitarian crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory. He was based at its Gaza HQ, serving simultaneously as Secretary of the Agency’s Advisory Commission. In June 2004, he was Executive Secretary of a major inter-governmental conference on UNRWA and the humanitarian needs of the Palestine refugees, hosted by the Swiss Government, in Geneva.

For more about the UNRWA, see http://www.un.org/unrwa/

“Politics of Democratic Transition in Africa: Independence, Instability, and the Elusive Goal of ‘Development”

7:00 p.m., SUB Ballroom

Political scientist and UN consultant Tayo Oke will travel from Lagos, Nigeria to UI to talk about concepts of democracy and development across the African continent. Oke, who has served as an election monitor and specialist in countries as diverse as Ukraine, Sierra Leone, and Timor Leste, will visit with a variety of campus groups during his three day visit.

“Voices from Darfur featuring Darfuri refugees Abu Asal Abu Asal and Ibrahim Musa Adam”

7:00 p.m., Kenworthy Theater, Moscow

The Martin Institute and Save Darfur Coalition join together to host Abu Asal Abu Asal and Ibrahim Adam, who escaped the genocide in Sudan and now help raise awareness about the situation there. This free event will include the screening of a brief documentary, talks from both men, and a q-and-a session.

For more information about the Voices from Darfur program, please visit the program homepage

“Islamic Values, Human Values featuring Fulbright Islamic Scholar-in-Residence Mohamed Adiouane”

7:00 p.m., SUB Ballroom

For a press release about this forum, please visit Today@Idaho

“Ireland Today – Many Shades of Green” presented by Irish Consul General (San Francisco) Emer Deane”

3:30 p.m., SUB Silver-Gold Room

For a press release about this forum, please visit Today@Idaho

For further information about the Foreign Ministry of Ireland, visit their homepage.

“The Challenges of Development in Southern Africa featuring Pauline Peters of Harvard University”

3:30 p.m., Commons Horizon Room

For a press release about this forum, please visit Today@Idaho

For further information about Dr. Peters’ work at Harvard, visit her homepage

“Global Health Policy”

7:00 p.m., SUB Ballroom

Rachel Nugent is a senior associate in CGD’s Global Health Programs. She also provides economic and policy expertise to HPRN Working Groups, and manages CGD programs on Population and Economic Development. Nugent graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a bachelor's degree in economics and journalism, and received a doctorate in economics from George Washington University.

For a press release about this forum, please visit Today@Idaho

“Right to Play: Sport for Development and Peace”

7:00 p.m., SUB Ballroom

Olympic Gold Medalist and Right to Play affiliate Nikki Stone travels to Idaho to discuss Right to Play’s work in promoting development, education, health care, gender equity, and peace through the use of sport. Right to Play programs are currently ongoing in 22 countries; Ms. Stone recently visited Tanzania on behalf of the organization.

The focus of the visit will be on Right to Play’s mission: to use “sport and play as a tool for the development of children and youth in the most disadvantaged areas of the world. Right To Play is committed to improving the lives of these children and to strengthening their communities by translating the best practices of sport and play into opportunities to promote development, health and peace.”

For more information about Right to Play, click here.

For more information on Nikki Stone, click here.

“The Future of Peace”

5:00 p.m., CUE (Smith Center) 203 (at WSU)

Scott Hunt interviewed numerous leaders in various campaigns for peace (including Nobel Peace Prize winners, the Dalai Lama, Oscar Arias, and Aung San Suu Kyi among others) in writing his book “The Future of Peace: On the Frontline’s With the World’s Great Peacemakers” in 2002. His research looks to “attempt to discover the causes of human suffering and the antidote to violence” (Reed Business Information, Inc.).

This forum is sponsored primarily by the Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society at Washington State University, hence the public forum will be held at WSU. Mr. Hunt will spend the morning of April 13 with secondary sponsor the Martin Institute, for a meeting with students and an informal discussion group at the UI.

For information on the venue at WSU, click here.

“The EU-US Economic Relationship”

1:30 p.m., SUB Gold Room

Kyle Galler is an permanent official at the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union in the Economic and Financial Affairs division.  He is currently a visiting fellow at the EU Center of Excellence in Seattle, which is housed at the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. As the two largest economic entities in the world, the nature of trade, competition, and tariffs between the EU and the US is of utmost importance to the global economic picture.

During his visit, Galler will also meet with members of the International Affairs Club and speak to the UI delegation to the National Model United Nations conference about how policy is formulated within the EU.

He will spend the 27th in Pullman as a guest of the Foley Institute at Washington State University.

For a news story about the forum in the UI student newspaper The Argonaut, click here.

“Modern Day Slavery”

7:00 p.m., SUB Ballroom

Ex-slave Micheline Slattery (now a nurse in Massachusetts) and American Anti-Slavery Group Program Director Janie Kiser will speak about the global implications of slavery, as highlighted through the experiences of Ms. Slattery. Current estimates on the global scope of slavery are in the range of 27 million people; US State

Department estimates for the number of new slaves trafficked into the United States are as high as 17-20 thousand.

During their visit, the two will visit a number of classes both at UI and at WSU, and will have dinner with members of the International Affairs Club. Ms. Kiser is herself an alumna of the International Studies program at UI.

For a press release about this Martin Forum, click here.

For more information on the American Anti-Slavery Group, click here.