Nassrine Azimi Director UNITAR Hiroshima

UNITAR (United Nations Institute for Training and Research) is an essential partner for Hiroshima. Located right next to the Peace Park, the institute is working toward future peace and cooperation with people of different nationalities, religions, cultures and ethnicities. We had a chance to talk with Director Nassrine Azimi about UNITAR's role and how people in our community can be more involved in its activities. She is an intelligent, warmhearted, multi-lingual Muslim woman who sees her office's role as a bridge between the many organizations around Hiroshima, Japan and the wider Asia and Pacific region.

Of the over 800 experts that have been trained in Hiroshima, Azimi says that many of them

"..have been deeply impressed by the experience, marked as Hiroshima is by great contrasts - devastation and recovery, tragedy and hope, somber reflection and modern prosperity. Hiroshima is a place where all have the opportunity to open their hearts and minds to thoughts, meditation, prayer and action, to remember our common humanity and what we live for. And open hearts and minds naturally enhance the process of learning."

She echoed many of these thoughts in our interview, saying how Hiroshima plays such a special role- since it has "a moral authority which counts in this glib world."

UNITAR multilingual staff "...the foreigner perspective is so important because naturally the locals may take things for granted and not appreciate the good points about how Hiroshima has rebuilt itself." Azimi in the UNITAR seminar room overlooking the A-bomb dome

When the UNITAR programs bring together trainees from nations in conflict, they sit in the seminar rooms, overlooking the a-bomb dome, and complete their training together, no matter what their differences and disagreements. Azimi believes this is "because the location of Hiroshima brings the right conditions to the situation. It transcends these problems we are having now in our modern world." The Hiroshima story continues and should be used more confidently as a bridge between past and future- this is what UNITAR also aspires to. Hiroshima is a perfect location to have open, honest conversations and make new connections.

UNITAR Activities
The UNITAR multilingual, multinational staff's main responsibility is is to provide a training program for people chosen to being trained to enter positions of responsibility in governments in this Asia/Pacific region. The greatest focus is on the poorest nations, therefore they have had a lot of experts from Afghanistan. UNITAR also trains future leaders from Asia and the Pacific in environmental policy, heritage conservation and negotiation skills as well as a host of other communication and managerial skills.

Roundtable Discussions
UNITAR also hosts many expert speakers in the arts and sciences from around the world to come and speak at roundtable discussions about current events and relevant topics that are open to the public. If you find a roundtable discussion you would like to attend, you can register through their website.

According to their website, the "UNITAR Hiroshima Roundtables are organized periodically to present the views of internationally renowned speakers from the fields of politics, economics, sciences and the arts." Although often the roundtable presentations are either in Japanese or English, if they are the speaker's question and answer session can be done in both languages. You can see details of Past roundtable discussions here and find out about the upcoming discussions on the main page of UNITAR's multilingual website.

We will also try to post interesting, upcoming roundtable discussions on the GetHiroshima Events section to try to encourage more people from the community to get involved.

UNITAR also hosts special seminars open to applications from the general public if you are selected from the applicants. Coming up in March, 2008- there is a workshop in English on the World Heritage regime.
According to their website, "The 2008 workshop will focus on the potential implications and roles of heritage in post-war reconstruction and as a contribution towards peace and reconciliation." It is possible to apply online through the UNITAR website.

How could Hiroshima be better?
We ended our interview with a rather candid discussion about the many changes we are seeing in Hiroshima and how it could be improved. One of my favorite ideas of hers was how Hiroshima city could be re-invented as the "Amsterdam of Japan" with its many riverside cycling paths. If there were a few more bicycle lanes around the city- and a bit radical perhaps- but if the city center were made more pedestrian friendly instead of car friendly- it would be a wonderful and strong statement.

Director Azimi stated that, "if you don't understand the neccessity of creating clean, environmentally friendly ways to preserve Hiroshima, than you don't understand PEACE." She has led by example and always encourages students to start small; carry your own shopping bag, chopsticks and handkerchief furoshiki- these things are not hard to do, but if we all did them, it would start making a difference.

We agreed that there needs to be more interaction between NPOs and organizations in Hiroshima- there are so many people independently doing so many wonderful things- if only they could do more together and exchange information better... That is where GetHiroshima and UNITAR can help, we can act as bridges for different groups to communicate better. UNITAR is also acting as a bridge from the past to the future of Hiroshima through their training programs and hosting of round-table discussions of experts from around the world talking about issues that matter.

Women should be more involved
In Azimi's lecture at Jogakuin University, she talked about how the involvement of women is so essential to the world order. "Why should women be more involved?" I asked, "Because we are here!" she replied.
Women have varied sensitivities and inferences and in most countries, very little or no influence. I asked her if she thought things would change if Hillary Clinton becomes the first woman President of America, but she pointed out that one person makes very little difference,

"It is a movement that counts. If you have continuity and a constant presence of women, you could end up with larger spendings on education and health for example, versus military. Positions of influence are more important than positions of power - the two are not always the same."

Nassrine Azimi is a very positive, optimistic thinker that infects you with her enthusiasm and good will toward others, it is no wonder that she has been a successful director for this important office. We are lucky to have her living and working here in Hiroshima as an active part of our international community.

Joy Jarman-Walsh 2/2008