Welcome welcome welcome.

It is quite a high powered assemblage

here.

For those of you new to the Dag Hammarskjold Fund, it was created in
1962 to honor the second UN secretary-general who died in a plane
crash while trying to make peace in the Congo. More than 200 mid-
level journalists from developing nations have been afforded the
chance to cover the General Assembly each autumn for at least 10
weeks. The Fund is at the United Nations but not OF the United
Nations. UN-based journalists volunteer their time and raise monies to
finance the visiting fellows. And you will hear from all four. Journalists
are not always very good at asking for money as expenses rise and
budgets of contributors tighten. But this year I want to pay tribute to
the UN Foundation, the Hurford Foundation, the Lenfest Foundation
and the Mission of Norway for their generosity. And to Mary Krauser,
our administrator, and Lynda Gould, our event planner and Seana
Magee of Kyodo news, our tireless treasurer. And I want to thank
UNCA, the UN correspondents association, for giving us work space
and other assistance.

And now we turn to the second most powerful official in the UN

system: the deputy secretary-general Dr Asha-Rose Migiro. She is the
former foreign minister of Tanzania, a law professor and she needs
little introduction.

Married with two children, Dr Migiro obtained her law degree from the
University of Dar es Salaam and her Ph.D. from Konstanz University in
Germany. As a professor, she headed the Department of Constitution
and Administrative Law and the Department of Civil and Criminal Law.
And now when she speaks of women’s rights or maternal mortality or,
gender pay gaps – among many other issues -- , she connects these
issues to her life experience because she has lived them.

I remember when she was appointed Dumisani Kumalo, then South

Africa’s ambassador, said; “Women are multi-tasking people. And
African women are even better. Watch out.”