I.P.O. ANNUAL REPORT 2025
Vienna, 28 December 2025
P/RE/30367c
International Roundtable Conference
On 25 September 2025, the International
Progress Organization hosted a roundtable consultation at
The Phoenicia in Malta on "Maritime Order in the Global Era:
National Interest vs. Common Good of Humanity." The meeting was held in
memory of the two pioneers of the modern law of the sea, Elisabeth
Mann Borgese (Germany) and Arvid Pardo
(Malta).
Experts
from Australia, Austria, Barbados,
Belgium, China,
Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Malta, Norway,
Spain, Switzerland,
Türkiye, and the United States, supported by academic team
members from Spain and Italy, discussed “Origins and Foundations of Ocean
Governance,” “Sovereignty, Conflict, and Maritime Boundary
Delimitation,” “Environmental Change, Resources, and Global
Responsibility,” and
“Dispute Resolution, Jurisdiction, and Freedom of the
Seas.”
On the sidelines of the meeting, the participants visited the Malta-based International Ocean Institute (IOI) and the International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI) of the UN Maritime Organization (UMO).
NEW PUBLICATIONS
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Sovereignty and Coercion: The United Nations in the Web of Power Politics -- Statements and papers from an international roundtable consultation in Istanbul. Studies in International Relations, Vol. XL Vienna: International Progress Organization, 2025, ISBN 978-3-900704-41-4.
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Maritime Order in the Global Era: National Interest vs. Common Good of Humanity -- Documentation of an International Roundtable Consultation at Hotel Phoenicia in Malta. Vienna: International Progress Organization, 2025, ISBN 978-3-900704-44-5.
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Macht und Vernunft: Zwei Vorträge. (Series "Gespräche in Graubünden.") Vienna: International Progress Organization, 2025, ISBN 978-3-900704-43-8.
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The Rise of Asia: 60 Years After Belgrade -- What Non-Alignment in a Multipolar World and for a Global Future? (Co-published with the International Progress Organization, Vienna.) Delhi: Aakar Books, 2025,
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Palestine / UNITED NATIONS
On 1 September 2025, the President of the I.P.O. delivered a statement on the question of Palestine at the Launching Event of The Nordic Initiative for a Diplomatic Accord in Israel and Palestine held in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. The meeting was jointly chaired by Ann Linde, former Foreign Minister of Sweden, and Erkki Tuomioja, former Foreign Minister of Finland. Among the participants were Dr. Yossi Beilin, former Minister of Justice of Israel and one of the architects of the Oslo Peace Accords, and Dr. Hiba Husseini (Palestine), former Chair of the Legal Committee for Negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis.
On 1 December 2025, the President of the International Progress Organization delivered a statement on behalf of civil society at a special United Nations meeting convened at the UN Office at Vienna by the UN General Assembly's Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. He emphasized that, "according to Common Article 1 of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and to Article I of the Genocide Convention, all States Parties are under an obligation to ensure respect for the conventions. There can be no à la carte enforcement of international humanitarian and international criminal law." Commenting on President Donald J. Trump's Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict and the Security Council's endorsement of the Plan without a single dissenting vote, the President of the I.P.O. expressed the hope "that the Comprehensive Plan will indeed lead to what it evokes in its final paragraph, namely, 'peaceful and prosperous coexistence,' meaning just peace, not a 'peace of the grave'.”
Peace and Global Order
On 7 February 2025, the President of the International Progress Organization issued a statement on the regional and global role of the Republic of Türkiye, 100 years after its creation, and on its crucial contribution to the resolution of conflicts in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and the Middle East.
On 5 March 2025, the President of the International Progress Organization delivered a speech at Sorbonne University in Paris (France) on "The United Nations at 80: Providing the Stage or Setting the Rules for the Global Concert of Powers?"
Book Presentation
On the sidelines of an international roundtable conference on "The UN in Changing Geopolitical Contexts" at Sorbonne University in Paris (5 March 2025), Dr. Hans Köchler attended the launching of the book "The Rise of Asia: 60 Years After Belgrade," edited by Prof. Darwis Khudori. The book contains a Postface by Hans Köchler on "Non-alignment in a Multipolar World."
International Criminal Justice
Following up on the I.P.O. activities, since the 1990s, related to issues of international law and power politics, the International Progress Organization will convene, in 2026, an international roundtable consultation in Singapore on "Idea and Politics of Global Justice."
Ocean Governance and the Rule of Law
In June 2025, the International Progress Organization attended the Third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nice, France. In a statement submitted to the conference on "Ocean Governance and the Rule of Law" (13 June 2025), the I.P.O. warned of the unilateral assertion of national interests by non-States Parties as the biggest threat to the enforcement of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and to the authority of the International Seabed Authority in particular.
United Nations / Self-determination
The International Progress Organization participated in the Annual Forum of the International Patriotic Pact Organization (IPPO) (China), which was held on 1 October 2025 at the Palais des Nations of the United Nations in Geneva. In his capacity as co-founder of the IPPO and Vice-Chair of the Forum, the President of the I.P.O. delivered a keynote speech on "Right to Development and National Interest in the Global Context."
Y20 South Africa 2025 Summit
On 12 August 2025, the President of the I.P.O. held an online consultation meeting with the Italian delegation to the Y20 South Africa 2025 Summit, in preparation of the G20 Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. The "Y20" is a forum for dialogue between young people from G20 member countries.
VISIT OF Youth Delegation of Democrats 66 (Netherlands)
On 18 October 2025, the President of the I.P.O. held a special briefing session in Vienna for a visiting delegation of the "Route 66" youth movement of Democrats 66 (Netherlands), focusing on questions of international justice and dialogue of civilizations.
Special lectures by the President of the I.P.O. in Morocco
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"Le pouvoir de l'esprit et la fragilité de la raison" -- University Hassan II, Casablanca, 12 November 2025.
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"Philosophie und moderne Technik" -- Faculty of Humanities, University Chouaib Doukkali, El Jadida, 13 November 2025.
Young Ambassadors Society (Italy)
The Young Ambassadors Society (Rome), represented by Mr. Davide Sirna, invited the President of the I.P.O. to act as resource person in questions of world order and international law.
Information Visit
BY THE
PRESIDENT
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Azores Islands, Portugal, 21-24 May 2025 (in connection with the project on "Maritime Order in the Global Era"). Contact was established with the University of the Azores in Ponta Delgada.
MEDIA INTERVIEWS
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Exclusive interview for Xinhua News Agency (China) on the occasion of the 2025 Forum of the International Patriotic Pact Organization (Geneva, 1 October 2025).
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Exclusive interview for Al Bayane newspaper, Casablanca, Morocco (4 November 2025).
Academic Team Members
In the course of 2025, Dr. María Vallés González (Spain) and Mr. Davide Sirna (Italy) assisted with the preparation and organization of the annual roundtable consultation of the I.P.O.
Ms. Luna Wyatt (USA) joined the academic team of the I.P.O.
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