Conference Report
(Photos: Marc Darchinger)
“What do you think?” To be asked by Henry Kissinger about his views on the role of the United Nations in the fight against human rights violations is not something that happens every day to Jurij Aston, Personal secretary of the Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at the Federal Foreign Office. During the 45th Munich Security Conference and as part of the Munich Young Leaders Round Table on Security Policy Jurij Aston, together with 24 other young leaders from Germany, Eastern Europe, the CIS and the Middle East, had the opportunity to exchange ideas with high-ranking participants of the Security Conference, including Henry Kissinger, German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung and the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Poland and Pakistan.
“With Munich Young Leaders we are sending out a message that we want to promote the young generation of international foreign and security policy specialists.” This is how ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, explains the idea of the new project, which Körber Foundation and the Munich Security Conference have staged jointly for the first time this year. The fact that in addition to their own specific program the Munich Young Leaders were also able to attend the Munich Security Conference shows that Ambassador Ischinger is being serious when he talks about promoting the young members of the foreign and security policy community.
The organizers are also sending out a message with the choice of countries from which the Munich Young Leaders come. “With Munich Young Leaders we want to make a contribution to incorporating new actors into the transatlantic security policy discourse,” explains Dr. Klaus Wehmeier, Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board of Körber Foundation. “That is why we have invited participants from NATO countries, and, above all, young leaders from the Middle East, the CIS, and the Western Balkans.”
The Munich Young Leaders explained their attitudes to controversial issues such as the Middle East conflict or NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia in a forceful and yet thoroughly fair manner. “It took a bit of time before we warmed to each other.” This is how Sawsan Chebli, a German participant with Palestinian roots, described her meeting with the Munich Young Leader from Israel.“ But then we actually talked about the situation in the Middle East for hours.”
More than 40 German embassies suggested 60 non-German candidates for the Munich Young Leaders meeting. The German participants came from the Körber Network Foreign Policy, in which the Körber Foundation promotes a number of young foreign policy specialists in Berlin. “The selection procedure for the Munich Young Leaders 2010 begins in May,” as Dr. Thomas Paulsen, Executive Director International Affairs at the Körber Foundation points out. “We are looking forward to the suggestions from the embassies – and to stimulating discussions with the next group of Munich Young Leaders.”
