UNA-NYC Annual Meeting 2019 Celebrates Another Successful Year
On 6 June, dozens of UNA-NYC members and guests gathered at our Annual Meeting. A full house of participants had an opportunity to review another successful year of UNA-NYC's achievements, to welcome a newly elected board member, Dr. Lily Khidr, as well as re-electing board members Paula Rice Jackson, Dr. Peter Rajsingh and Sherrie Murphy. For our Book Talk presentation, we also welcomed our keynote speaker for the evening, The New York Times National Security Correspondent, David E. Sanger.
The evening started with an review of the year by UNA-NYC president, Abid Qureshi, who saluted all members for their active participation during the last 12 months as we celebrated a fruitful year for the organization. Moreover, he illustrated to the audience the administrative success of the organization and proceeded with the elections of the upcoming members of the board.
The evening continued with a very productive and insightful discussion with David E. Sanger on cyber security. He illustrated some key facts about cyber-attacks, which he expanded on in his recent book The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage, and Fear in the Cyber Age.
As Sanger described, “cyber attacks have become the primary way states conduct short-of-war operations against each other.” For many years, people have looked at only technological solutions to address these issues. Today, however, the problem needs much more attention as it is predominately growing. In today’s globalized world, cyber attacks have become increasingly common and dangerous, for states and civilians. Therefore, the matter needs to be given more attention, since it affects the peace and security of all.
Highlighting some key features of the problem, Sanger stated that cyber can be used for destructive purposes, in what previously could be accomplished by sabotage or bombing. It is also used for espionage, manipulation of data, and achieving political goals. He explained that “what makes cyber different is that it is cheap, deniable, and hard to trace.” In this way, the problem could be compared with climate change and terrorism, as both are issues that are expanding rapidly across the globe. Lastly, Sanger concluded by explaining some of the major cyber-attacks of the last few years and encouraged the audience to be more aware of the matter.
The 2019 Annual Meeting served as a reflection of UNA-NYC’s recent year, celebrating the successful execution of a variety of programs which educated members on many current global challenges, while supporting the work of the United Nations. During the last 12 months, UNA-NYC offered opportunities for civil society in New York to understand the UN and its platforms, motivating members to be more involved with UN causes. Programs such as The Ambassadors Series, the Worldview Institute, the Summer Scholars Fellowships, along with the Screening the Issues and Book Talk series, have given people a chance to participate in the changing scene and become advocates for the United Nations.
Congratulations to the newly elected board members, and special appreciation extended to all guests attending the meeting. Thanks to their active engagement, UNA-NYC continues to grow in participation and impact, reinforcing its mandate to serve as a bridge for advocacy of global issues in connecting civil society with the United Nations.
Photography: Melanie Zhang