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.
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:
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.
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:
It has been two years since Brazil was hit with the worst environmental disaster in the country’s history when a dam burst at an iron-ore mine and toxic mud swept over villages and into rivers. Known as the Mariana Disaster, it is now the rallying cry for a UN treaty on transnational corporations and human rights.
Under pressure from nuclear-armed nations that insist a world without nuclear weapons is not possible, a grassroots movement has achieved a UN nuclear ban treaty and a Nobel Peace Prize.
Change the future of migration. Invest in food security and rural development.
Maryknoll Sister Elizabeth (Claris) Zwareva, who represents Maryknoll at the United Nations, reports on the latest efforts at the UN to incorporated intergenerational dialogue in efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Maryknoll Sister Elizabeth Zwareva reports on the negotiations at the United Nations to adopt a treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading toward their total elimination.
Deadline is June 1, 2017.
The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns co-organized an event on “Nonviolence as a Style of Politics for Peace” at the UN in New York with the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See and the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, a project of Pax Christi International.
Isaac S. Villegas, pastor of Chapel Hill Mennonite Fellowship and board member of the North Carolina Council of Churches, shared this reflection at the “Loving Our Neighbor: Embodying Sanctuary” conference at Duke Divinity School on January 28, 2017.
In one of his final acts as UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon said the United Nations was “profoundly sorry” for the outbreak in Haiti, which first developed near a UN base in 2010, and committed to mobilizing a response by UN member states.
On September 19 the United Nations held its first-ever Summit for Refugees and Migrants. The purpose of this gathering was for heads of state to adopt the New York Declaration, a lengthy political declaration that “expresses the political will of world leaders to save lives, protect rights and share responsibility on a global scale.” The…
Tell President Obama and Congress we need real leadership, cooperation, and solutions at the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants on September 19.
Following the UN civil society hearing on ending HIV/AIDS in April, ministers, heads of governments, and civil society representatives gathered in June for a UN High Level Meeting on ending HIV/ AIDS.
Since the beginning of his papacy three years ago, Pope Francis has repeatedly named nuclear disarmament as a major goal, alongside addressing climate change and welcoming migrants. All three issues are essential to Francis’ vision expressed in Laudato Si’, for a “culture of care which permeates all of society.”
Maryknoll Sr. Claris Zwareva. Sr. Claris reports from the UN on the latest developments in addressing the needs of the approximately 60 million displaced people around the world.
Momentum is building, thanks to voices from the Global South, for a climate agreement that limits global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Chloe Schwabe, Faith-Economy-Ecology project coordinator for the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, reports from the 21st annual UN climate conference (COP21) in Paris.
Download our weekly series of prayer-study-action guides to help you join the millions of people worldwide praying and acting for the climate justice at the UN Climate Summit in Paris. Editor: Susan Gunn
In December, the UN conference on climate change in Paris will be the center of the world’s attention as 190 participating nations attempt to agree to what hopefully will be a robust agreement. From August 31-September 7, negotiators from these governments met in Bonn, Germany to lay the groundwork for a successful Paris conference.
