UN NGO Report – 2011 Activities
Special UN Projects
UN Panel on Water- For the first time ever, FAWCO sponsored a High Level Panel for the UN Human Rights Council at its 18th Session in Geneva at the Palais de Nations on Sept 26. The topic was “ Woman and the Right to Water” which is in keeping with FAWCO’s Target Project theme of “Clean Water.”
Lois Herman, member of AWA Rome and Chair of the Women’s UN Report Network ( WUNRN) organized the event with the assistance of Sara von Moos, UN NGO Representative in Geneva. Ms Catarina de Albuqurque, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right of Water and Sanitation, was the featured speaker along with Mr. Lorenz Indermuehle from the Red Cross. FAWCO printed and distributed materials on its Target Program for wells in Cambodia in support of the UN MDG’s.
Target Program -The NGO Team continued to actively support the Target Program that was designed to promote UN MDG #7 for clean water. NGO Director, Pam Perraud worked with Anne Von Oorschot, Target Program Chair, to raise over $4100 at the FAWCO conference in Marrakesh.
Eleanor Roosevelt Girls Leadership Workshop -Since 2008, the 60th anniversary of signing of the UN Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR), to honor Eleanor Roosevelt and her role in the passage of the UNDHR, FAWCO has donated $3300 each year to support scholarships for young girls to attend the Eleanor Roosevelt Girls Leadership Workshop held each summer at Val Kill, Eleanor Roosevelt’s home in New York. This year Emile Bourge, daughter of Michelle Parker, member of AAWE Paris was chosen to participate in this very prestigious program.
FAWCO also sponsors a website for Eleanor Roosevelt and the UNDHR at www.erooseveltudhr.org
Attendance at UN Meetings
Annual UN DPI Conference
Last year the annual UN DPI (Department of Public Information) Conference for NGO’s was held Sept 3-5 in Bonn, Germany. Michelle Jackson, UN NGO Advocate from AWG Taunus represented FAWCO. The theme of the conference was “ Sustainable Societies: Responsive Citizens.”
UN HQ in New York
To mark the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day in NY on March 8th, NGO Representative Marge McGowan attended a special UN Forum on “Investing in Women and Entrepreneurship- Solutions to Addressing MDG #3.” Marge also attended sessions last year on “Human Rights for Children” as well as a session in honor of International Day of Older Persons on “Ageing with Dignity- Strengthening the Protections of Human Rights of Older Persons.”
Erica Higbie, NGO Representative, joined the NY UN Working Group on Girls as well as the NGO Committee on the Status of Women (CSW). Last year she also attended regular DPI programs that included “Beyond Durban- Fighting Racism”, “ Recent Developments on the Right to Food” and the “UN Volunteer Program”. She also attended the UN DPI Communication Workshop in November for new representatives.
On Oct 24, UN Day, FAWCO’s UN NGO Director attended a session with Margaret Sekaggya, Special Rapporteur on “ Situation of Human Rights Defenders” as well as one with Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, Special Rapporteur on “Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.”
UN HQ in Geneva
In March, NGO Representative Anne Cameron Rutschmann from AWC Zurich attended a meeting on “Women, Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.” In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8th, she went to a Forum organized by the CSW entitled” Celebrating Women’s Rights: Higher Education- Pathway to Gender Equality and Decent Work.”
Sara von Moos, FAWCO’s CONGO Representative from AWC Bern, attended the Human Rights Council Session on Women’s Human Rights as well as the WUNRN sponsored Panel on “Women and the Right to Food.” She also attended the special speech by Hillary Clinton marking Human Rights Day in December.
In September, Pam Perraud, FAWCO NGO Director, attended the Geneva NGO Committee on Human Rights Information Briefing on the UN Human Rights Council as in September well as Human Rights Council panel discussion on “Development- Between Policy and Practice “
Kelly Fitzgerald, NGO Representative from AWC Zurich and head of FAWCO’s Team on global Ageing is now representing FAWCO at meetings of GINA (Geneva International Network on Ageing.)
Vienna HQ
On March 10, Laurie Richardson, FAWCO NGO Representative from AWA Vienna attended the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day at a special program entitled “ Time to Celebrate? Achievements and Prospects” sponsored by the Vienna CSW.
Presentations about the UN
Marrakesh-During the annual FAWCO conference in Morocco, FAWCO’s UN NGO Director did a presentation on the United Nations which included not only information about FAWCO’s UN activities but also on why it is so important to support the UN. For more specifics facts about the UN and reasons to support the UN go to www.fawco.org/ngo and look under “Resources/ Supporting the UN.”
Paris - In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8, the NGO Director made a special presentation about women’s rights, the UN and CEDAW (Convention to End all Discrimination against Women) to AAWE Paris.
Advocacy of the UN
FAWCO joined with other organizations to urge the US Senate to ratify the CEDAW treaty as soon as possible. In 2011, two more countries- Palau and Nauru ratified CEDAW. This leaves only Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Tonga and the US as holdouts on this issue. See www.cedaw2011.org
FAWCO also joined with the Better World Campaign (www.betterworldcampaign.org) and many others US NGO’s to petition Congress not to cut funding for vital UN operations.
For more information on all of FAWCO’s UN NGO activities go to www.fawco.org/ngo
Respectfully submitted,
Pam Perraud, UN NGO Director