Maryknoll missioners serve as NGO representatives to the United Nations in New York where they bring the Maryknoll mission experience to important conversations with policymakers and civil society members from around the world.

ECOSOC Membership

As members of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the six main organs of the United Nations, Maryknoll missioners engage in debate and foster innovative thinking to support coordinated efforts to achieve the internationally agreed-upon goals and advance the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental. By providing a platform for the follow-up to major UN conferences and summits, ECOSOC offers a gateway for dialogue and participation by policymakers, parliamentarians, academics, foundations, businesses, youth and more than 3,000 registered non-governmental organizations, including the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers and the Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic. 

Sustainable Development Goals

The UN member states adoped the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which set out a 15-year plan to achieve the goals. The SDGs focus global efforts on lifting people out of extreme poverty, while also addressing the challenges of ensuring more equitable development and environmental sustainability, especially the key goal of curbing the dangers of human-induced climate change. Today, progress is being made in many places, but, overall, action to meet the goals is not yet advancing at the speed or scale required. The year 2020 needs to usher in a decade of ambitious action to achieve the goals by 2030. At the core of the 2020-2030 decade is the need for action to tackle growing poverty, empower women and girls, and address the climate emergency.

Maryknoll missioners work to promote peace, social justice and the integrity of creation by organizing their UN participation around the following topics:

Ecology

(climate change, oceans, forests, agroecology, sustainable agriculture, UNEP)

Economics – financing for development

Extractive Industries 

Mining working group

Indigenous People

Day

Women and Children

Press coverage:
Online sexual exploitation of children increased during pandemic

 

Migration

(compact of migrants, compact of refugees, xenophobia)

 

RUN – network 
JCOR – justice coalition – aimed at grassroots development awareness work (India, 5 countries in Africa, some Latin America)
Global Sisters Report coverage from 2018 articles by Marvie and roundtable discussions  google Chris Herlinger