In our often divided world, one place where all of humankind is invited to come together to work for the common good is the United Nations. Despite its limitations, the UN system is our most effective tool for uniting with others in order to create and implement policies that secure a life of dignity for all of God’s children.
ECOSOC Membership
Article 71 of the Charter of the United Nations reads: “The Economic and Social Council [ECOSOC] may make suitable arrangements for consultation with non-governmental organizations which are concerned with matters within its competence.”
Based on this article, two of the Maryknoll branches (the Maryknoll Sisters and the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers) have Consultative Status with ECOSOC, and the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns carries out the work of implementing this status. Our work with the UN aims to influence its agenda and is done by:
- participating in NGOs committees and working groups
- presenting oral and writing statements
- participating in global UN conferences and regular sessions
- participating in the monitoring process of UN treaties
- networking with other NGOs, and
- facilitating the voice of local people in the UN and NGOs gatherings.
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.
Sustainable Development Goals
The UN member states adopted 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. 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 representatives to the UN 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)
- Mining and Extractivism
- Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples
- Migration and Human Trafficking
- Social Development
- Financing for Sustainable Development
- Nuclear Disarmament
- Women and Children
In the News:
- Dozens of Catholic sisters advocate for women at United Nations gathering, Global Sisters Report, March 27, 2024
- Africa cries out for 'loss and damage' funds to combat effects of climate change, Global Sisters Report, Dec.1, 2023
- Increased nuclear threat may renew interest in disarmament, advocates say, Global Sisters Report, Sept. 22, 2022
- After COP26, sisters pledge continued activism as 'an act of care', Global Sisters Report, Nov.19, 2021
- Inequities in world's food system have only worsened during pandemic, Global Sisters Report, Oct. 15, 2021
- The U.S. Should Raise its International Climate Finance to $12 Billion Per Year, NRDC, Sept. 20, 2021
- Africa: Open Letter - the Green Revolution in Africa Has Unequivocally Failed, All Africa, Sept. 15, 2021
- Pope Francis, in Earth Day messages, warns 'we are at the edge' on climate change, National Catholic Reporter, April 22, 2021
- Sister reps at UN hope Biden will put US 'back on track' globally, Global Sisters Report, Nov. 12, 2020
- Online sexual exploitation of children increased during pandemic, Global Sisters Report, July 20, 2020
- Affirming the dignity of those forgotten, shunned, ignored, Global Sisters Report, Feb. 17, 2020
- Women and Earth are 'on receiving end of patriarchy' when it comes to profit, Global Sisters Report, April 22, 2019
- UN Commission on the Status of Women to focus on social protections, Global Sisters Report, March 11, 2019
- Sisters, leaders applaud adoption of UN migration compact, despite US refusal to sign, Global Sisters Report, Dec. 18, 2018
- A path to resilience amid climate change, Global Sisters Report, Oct. 23, 2018
- UN moves forward on compacts to manage migration, refugees, Global Sisters Report, July 20, 2018
- How would foreign policy change if women held the reins of diplomacy?, Global Sisters Report, June 7, 2018
- Violence begets violence, Catholic sisters say, about airstrikes on Syria, Global Sisters Report, April 16, 2018