DPI/NGO Conference on Global Solidarity.

• Position: Brief Article

"Global Solidarity: The Way to Peace and International Cooperation" was the theme of the 53rd annual Conference organized by the United Nations Department of Public Information in coordination with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which was held 28-30 August in New York. The three-day DPI/NGO Conference, attended by some 1,700 representatives of 465 organizations from 58 countries, featured plenary panels that examined the working partnerships between civil society, Governments and the UN system, explored ways to implement the action plans adopted at major world conferences of the 1990s, and focused on civil society's involvement in humanitarian intervention, as well as "best practices" and lessons learned from recent experiences. Several United Nations information centres around the world organized parallel conferences which replicated the DPI/NGO plenaries.

For the first time, a head of State addressed the Conference. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria said that the world was in crucial need of new impetus from civil society, especially when unbridled materialism, strong technical progress and inequity were multiplying and aggravating the rights of human beings. An array of distinguished figures discussed the notion of global solidarity. Hanan Ashmwi, Secretary-General of the Palestinian Initiative for Global Dialogue and Democracy stated that the...