KEYNOTE SPEAKERS TO HIGHLIGHT MIGRATION, POPULATION ISSUES
| Press Release POP/895 |
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS TO HIGHLIGHT MIGRATION, POPULATION ISSUES
NEW YORK, 22 March (UN Population Division) -- Three keynote speakers will examine global concerns at this week’s meeting of the Commission on Population and Development at United Nations Headquarters.
On Tuesday, 23 March, at 11:30 a.m., Brunson McKinley, Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), will address the Commission on “International Migration and Development in the 21st Century”.
On Wednesday, 24 March, at 11:30 a.m., Barbara Crossette, former United Nations Bureau Chief of The NewYork Times, will provide a journalist view to the question, “Has the Cairo Consensus Lost Momentum?”
On Thursday, 25 March, at 11:30 a.m., Riad Tabbarah, Director of the Beirut-based Center for Development Studies and Projects, will discuss “Cairo+10 or Bucharest+30? The longer-term view”. The events will take place in Conference Room 1.
Mr. McKinley has been Director General of the IOM in Geneva, Switzerland, since 1998. He came to the IOM from a career in the diplomatic service of the United States. He has served as a diplomat in Italy, China, Viet Nam, United Kingdom and Germany. He was the first United States Ambassador to Haiti in the post-Duvalier period. Since 1990, Mr. McKinley has specialized in international migration issues, and from 1995 to 1998, he was the United States Humanitarian Coordinator in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Before serving as the United Nations Bureau Chief of The New York Times, Ms. Crossette was The New York Times South Asia Bureau Chief, where she was the last journalist to interview Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, just minutes before he was assassinated in 1991. She is the author of three books: India: Facing the 21st Century; So Close to Heaven: The Vanishing Buddhist Kingdoms of the Himalayas; and The Great Hill Stations of Asia. Ms. Crossette has taught at the Columbia University School of Journalism and at PrincetonUniversity. She is currently a weekly columnist for UN Wire.
Mr. Tabbarah is the Director of the Center for Development Studies and Projects in Beirut, Lebanon. He also serves as Chief Expert at the National Population Commission of Lebanon. From 1994 to 1997, he was the Ambassador of Lebanon to the United States. From 1991 to 1994, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, AmericanUniversity of Beirut. Mr. Tabbarah also served as a population expert with the United Nations for over 20 years.
The keynote addresses are part of the thirty-seventh session of the Commission on Population and Development, which is meeting at United Nations Headquarters from 22 to 26 March.
For information, contact the office of Mr. Joseph Chamie, Director Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations Secretariat. Tel: (212) 963-3179; Fax: (212) 963-2147. United Nations Population Division Web site: www.unpopulation.org.
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