The Commission on Human Security, an independent body dedicated to exploring ways to reduce human suffering and insecurity, began a second two-day meeting Sunday in Tokyo, with panelists focusing on development and conflict prevention.
Sadako Ogata, co-chair of the 12-member commission and Japan's special envoy to Afghanistan, said in a speech that the human security crisis in Afghanistan gives the commission a good opportunity to examine fundamental structural causes of the problems the world faces today.
"(This meeting) is a good starting point to explore the interconnectedness of massive economic inequality and poverty, and violent and consistent conflict," said Ogata, a former U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
All the panelists except U.N. envoy for Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi were present at the meeting at Takanawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo's Minato Ward.
Indian economist and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, the other co-chair of the commission, stressed the importance of discussing the future of market-oriented economic systems and economic globalization to ensure "fairness and justice" for market players and citizens.
Sen, a professor at the University of Cambridge in Britain also said he would like to raise issues involving democratic development, gender equity, education, and health care, with the aim of enhancing human security on a global scale.
The meeting will end Monday evening after the participants hold talks with Japanese opinion leaders from various circles.
Established in January, the commission held its first meeting June 8 to 10 in New York. It plans to publish its final report possibly in late 2002.