The stability of the world depends on the political will of states, their shared responsibility and efforts to implement United Nations resolutions in various fields including human, women and children’s rights, UN General Assembly president Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces has said.
She was addressing a symposium hosted by Qatar University’s (QU) Faculty of Law under the title “Multilateralism Under Threat: The Challenges Facing the UN in the lead up to its 75th Anniversary.”
HE Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif al-Thani, the Permanent Representative of Qatar to the UN, and QU president Dr Hassan al-Derham were among the guests.
In her speech, Maria Garces addressed today’s world crises including terrorism, illegal migration, the refugee problem, violence against women, climate change, unemployment, international conflicts and armed conflict. The former foreign minister of Ecuador also noted the importance of multilateralism, including international co-operation, collective action, constructive dialogue and bilateral negotiations to confront these global crises. 
Director of the Law Clinic at QU College of Law, Dr Mohamed Mattar welcomed the UN decision to adopt the Global Compact for Migration on December 10, which was considered a historic move on the roadmap to prevent suffering. He also noted the number of UN initiatives that QU contributes to in particular the United Nations Academic Impact and the Education for Justice initiative. 
Dr Mattar announced that the College of Law will be hosting the annual conference of the International Society of Criminology in October next year in preparation for 14th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice which will be held in Kyoto, Japan, in April 2020.
QU Assistant Professor of Law, Dr Muna al-Marzouqi, observed that "the current challenges faced by states require concerted international efforts. What threatens the principle of multilateralism is the existence of states whose decisions are independent of the will of the international community. This affects the rights of people and the goals and objectives of the UN.”
At the conclusion of the symposium, attendees raised several questions about the concept of international law and the recent trend towards general principles and directives - rather than binding international conventions - and how to ensure these principles and guidelines are implemented in the absence of traditional mechanisms, which are stipulated in the various international conventions.
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