Members of Club de Madrid (CdM) that were in New York as the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly was taking place, joined several side events and took the opportunity to hold meetings related to the Shared Societies Project.
Kim Campbell as Keynote Speaker at event “Better Lives Now: Leveraging the Refugees’ Talents”
On Thursday 20th, PM Campbell participated as keynote Speaker at the event “Better Lives Now: Leveraging Refugees’ Talents”, organized by Refugee Point, the Women’s Refugee Commission and the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative in partnership with CdM, MercyCorps, The B Team and Refugees Deeply.
PM Campbell highlighted the Canadian experience on refugee’s resettlement as an encouraging story of success. “It may take as much as a decade, but refugees who come to Canada can achieve the same level of economic success as Canadian-born citizens”.
She also made a call for specific measures to develop refugee’s professional skills and the allocation of more resources and public support.
This side event launched the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative, a collaboration among NGOs, UNHCR, foundations, government agencies, the private sector and others that aims to support refugees to achieve a better quality of life and regain agency over their finances and futures.
Kim Campbell joins the Expo 2020 Dubai’s World Majlis
“The things that are most holding back the world’s development are political will and leadership”, said Kim Cambell at the Expo 2020 Dubai’s World Majlis, a gathering of Expo 2020 Dubai which brings together 10-15 globally recognised thought leaders with the objective to explore a topic of great significance for humanity.
Hosted by HE Reem Al Hashimy, Minister of International Cooperation of the UAE, the World Majlis was held at the New Museum of New York. Our Member, Kim Campbell also discussed Gender Balance and climate change as examples of global as well as the rise of authoritarianism in some parts of the world.
Shared Societies Project Mission United Nations General Assembly 2018
Club de Madrid Member´s Internal Meeting was held on Tuesday, September 25th where SG Mª Elena Agüero briefed the members on the current projects of CdM and discussed with them how to engage them in different activities that can better support members’ interests. Given Club de Madrid members had previously identified “investment in youth” as a strategic priority; the second hour of the internal CdM was devoted to an exchange with outstanding young leaders from the Anna Lindh Foundation’s Young Mediterranean Voices (YMV) project.
A Shared Societies Project (SSP) strategic meeting took place the same day. Club de Madrid Members along with experts, addressed the next steps regarding the Global Compact on Migration implementation, using the Shared Societies approach, and future activities in relation to migration. CdM Members Joyce Banda, President of Malawi (2012-2014), Danilo Turk, President of Slovenia (2007-2012) and Kim Campbell, PM of Canada (1993) brought into the discussion their experience and thoughts. Two experts in the field, David Donoghue, co-facilitator of the drafting of the New York Declaration on Migrants and Refugees, and Marta Foresti, Director of the Human Mobility Initiative at the Overseas Development Institute, shared their thoughts on the current situation. The discussion tended to the view that Members might surface difficult issues being avoided in the final agreement and encourage consideration of them by the international community. There was also a fruitful discussion on how sharing human interest stories about the experience of migration might have an impact on the wider population. NetPLUSS Member and former Mayor of Toronto, David Miller and the Executive Director of the A. Slifka Foundation, Sarah Silver, also joined the discussion.
In addition, a roundtable led by CdM Members, Danilo Türk and Zlatko Lagumdžija was organised while in New York to discuss potential collaboration with the Institute for State Effectiveness. The meeting was organised as a private roundtable discussion of some of the findings of their study on “The State of the State” which relate to the Shared Societies Project.
The discussion was oriented on main threats and potential solutions for States in different parts of the World and how inclusiveness might be the answer to many of those challenges. There was a general consensus to continue with regional meetings during the next year focus on Shared Societies themes.
The delegation, led by President Turk, also met with Franck Bousquet, Senior Director on Fragility, Conflict and Violence of the World Bank, to discuss how CdM Members might play a role in developing the Group’s new strategy, including implementation of the UN-WB Pathways for Peace proposal at the national level.
Members that joined Club de Madrid strategic meeting: Esko Aho – Prime Minister of Finland (1991-1995) Joyce Banda – President of Malawi (2012-2014) Kim Campbell – Prime Minister of Canada (1993) Leonel Fernández – President of Dominican Republic (1996-2000; 2004-2012) Jerry Jones – Chief Ethics and Legal Officer and Executive Vice President, ACXIOM, CdM Advisor Zlatko Lagumdžija – Prime Minister of Bosnia & Herzegovina (2001-2002) George Papandreou – Prime Minister of Greece (2009-2011) Kevin Rudd – Prime Minister of Australia (2007-2010; 2013) Danilo Türk – President of Slovenia (2007-2012)
