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:
The following message was sent by two staff members of the United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society (UMC-GBCS) who are attending the UN climate change meeting in Warsaw, Poland (COP19), November 2013.
The following article was published in the November-December 2013 NewsNotes.
The following alert is circulated by the human rights, anti-trafficking group Equality Now.
The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns was one of many signatories on the following letter to the board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which expresses our unified call for the adoption of the most robust environmental and social protections possible at the GCF.
Human Rights Day — December 10 — presents an opportunity, every year, to celebrate human rights, highlight a specific issue, and advocate for the full enjoyment of all human rights by everyone everywhere.
At the UN, July 12 was designated Malala Day in honor of Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani woman who was attacked in October 2012 for her efforts to gain an education.
For years after the end of the Cold War, the extreme danger of nuclear weapons and the moral obligation to achieve “nuclear zero” seemed to command little serious attention from governments or from the public at large.
On June 3 representatives of more than 60 countries signed the historic Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) at the United Nations in New York.
On May 30, the United Nations High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda presented its final report, “A New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies through Sustainable Development.”
On April 2, the Arms Trade Treaty passed; June 3 is the first day that UN member states can ratify the treaty.
The following report onthe February 2013 meeting of the UN Commission on Social Development was written by Sr. Elizabeth (Claris) Zwareva, MM, who represents Maryknoll at the UN.
From March 18-28, the United Nations will hold the final talks on the Arms Trade Treaty.
Urge your senators to sign letter to President Obama in support of a strong Arms Trade Treaty
The Women’s Rights Treaty [the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, also known as CEDAW] is a strong tool that the international community used to protect women and girls from violence, end injustices such as forced marriage and trafficking, and provide access to education and vocational training.
The following bulletin is distributed by our colleagues at Pax Christi USA, the national Catholic peace movement.
The following article was published in the November-December 2012 NewsNotes.
As we pray for those affected by the terrible devastation in the wake of Hurricane Sandy at the end of October — a storm whose size and ferocity can be attributed to climate change — we are faced with the dire need to respond as one Earth community. The following article was published in the November-December 2012 NewsNotes.
Every year on November 20, people come together to pray and act for the well-being of children.
