ARF Eastern Region Interns Attend UN Event

Interns at Permanent Mission of Armenia to the UN Observe High-Ranking Officials at Work

NEW YORK–On Aug. 6, the UN Security Council held a debate on the UN’s cooperation with regional and sub-regional organizations. Argentinean President Cristina Kirchner led the floor.

As part of the Armenian Mission and ARF Eastern Region annual Summer Internship Program at the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the UN, Meghry Avakian, Talar Kossakian, and Anna Elchyan had the opportunity to attend this high-level meeting. In attendance were many foreign ministers and various ambassadors to the UN in New York, including the newly appointed U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN, Samantha Power. Power was a longtime advisor to President Obama and recently ran the Human Rights Office in the White House. Her Pulitzer Prize-winning book sheds light on the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, and other crimes.

The participants in the summer internship program noted that it was very interesting to observe the role that regional organizations play as vital partners in implementing the UN agenda to stop violence and transnational crimes. Many member states emphasized the importance of strengthening ties between the UN and regional organizations to better conduct mediation and peace-building activities in conflict-prone zones, as a necessary step towards achieving peace and stability in all regions.

Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Garen Nazarian, emphasized the essential role that the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) plays in the resolution of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabagh) issue, which erupted in the region in 1992 as a result of Azerbaijani military aggression. Since then the OSCE Minsk Group (represented by the U.S., Russia, and France) conducts mediations and negotiations aimed towards finding a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict.