TANAKA Akihiko

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, left, and JICA President Akihiko Tanaka

JICA President Akihiko Tanaka visited Washington, D.C., on Dec. 3, and served as a panelist at a symposium hosted by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security at Georgetown University.

This symposium was held to coincide with the establishment of an academy (the National Action Plan Academy, jointly sponsored by Georgetown University, Harvard University and the Clinton Foundation) related to the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, so a debate was held from the viewpoint of how the participation and experiences of women can be put to use to achieve peace and security guarantees.

Since the resolution 1325 (Women, Peace and Security) was passed in 2000 in the United Nations Security Council putting a focus on issues surrounding women caught in conflicts, each member country has been working to settle on its own national action plan. At the start of the symposium, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a keynote address. She talked about the development of the debate at the United Nations and elsewhere on women's participation in peace building and gave concrete examples of the importance and effectiveness of women's participation in the peace building process. In her address, she mentioned Japan's contributions in this area and the fact that the discussion on research collaboration is progressing between JICA and Georgetown University.

JICA President Akihiko Tanaka, far right, makes a statement at a panel discussion.

At the symposium, Tanaka served as one of the panelists in a panel discussion moderated by Melanne Verveer, the first and former U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues. He said that under the strong initiative of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is now formulating a national action plan. Also, as an example of JICA's initiatives in the relevant area, Tanaka talked about supporting peace building in Mindanao, the Philippines. And in response to a question from a regular participant regarding scaling up efforts to strengthen the capacity of women, Tanaka touched on examples of JICA assistance such as that for female police officers in Afghanistan, and he pointed out the importance of scaling up such efforts.

This symposium was carried out successfully with high-level participants from overseas including the Norwegian minster of Defense, experts on security at NATO and United Nations, and people affiliated with universities.