FAWCO At the UN

FAWCO is a United Nations accredited non-governmental organization (NGO) with special consultative status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). FAWCO's UN Representatives in New York, Geneva, Vienna, Athens, Bonn and At-large and FAWCO UN Youth Reps attend UN meetings on behalf of FAWCO, focusing on issues related to women and children in FAWCO's priority areas: education, environment, health and human rights.

Read FAWCO at the UN: FAQs.

Learn more about the FAWCO UN Reps Team.

Learn more about the History of FAWCO’s involvement with the UN.

FAWCO Engagement at the UN

Recognized as an accredited non-governmental organization by the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) in 1995
Granted special consultative status to ECOSOC in 1997
Granted Observer Status at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2016
Member of the Board of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO)
Member of NGO Committees on the Status of Women (NGO CSWs) in New York, Geneva and Vienna and serving in leadership positions on the Executive Boards of these NGO CSWs
Member of the NGO Committee on Migration in New York, serving as Vice-Chair of the Committee
Member of NGO Committee on Human Rights in Geneva

20 Years of ECOSOC Consultative Status

FAWCO was granted special consultative status with ECOSOC in August 1997. In 2017, we looked back proudly on twenty years of successfully promoting the UN and its development agenda, advocating for gender equality and human rights. Read the Press Release on this major milestone for FAWCO's UN Program.

UDHR@70

VDG 814 plaque roosevelt 4p DOC On December 10, 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed. In 2018, FAWCO joins the UN in commemorating the UDHR@70. For the past 15 years, FAWCO UN Representatives have been engaged in human rights activitsm at the UN Human Rights Commission and involved with the NGO Committee on the Status of Women Geneva. FAWCO was instrumental in the creation of a memorial to Eleanor Roosevelt at the Place des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, recognizing her as the driving force behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The memorial was dedicated on December 5, 2008. Find out more here.

Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world. Eleanor Roosevelt

FAWCO Promotes the UN

Raising awareness about the UN and its role in women's empowerment, peacemaking, human development, and protection of the Earth through communications in the FAWCO FORUM, the UN Liaison Bulletin, on FAWCO's website and in social media
Promoting the UN's 2030 Development Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Endorsing UN principles and recognizing the UN as a forum for the peaceful resolution of conflicts
Advocating for programs and legislation that improve human rights and promote gender equality
Representing FAWCO at UN meetings, seminars, conferences and committees, especially at the annual Commission on the Status of Women
Developing partnerships and working in coalitions and Major Groups with like-minded NGOs and other stakeholders
Arranging for UN speakers at FAWCO Conferences and meetings
Encouraging Member Club involvement in FAWCO's global activities

FAWCO Promotes Agenda 2030

The big news at the UN in September 2015 was the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, successors to the Millennium Development Goals. The end of 2015 marked the end of the MDG target period. In a report on the achievements of the MDGs, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon summarized: “The MDGs have taught us how governments, business and civil society can work together to achieve transformational breakthroughs.”

The post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda is:

“A call for action to change our world… We resolve to build a better future for all people... We can be the first generation to succeed in ending poverty; just as we may be the last to have a chance of saving the planet.The world will be a better place in 2030 if we succeed in our objectives... As we embark on this collective journey, we pledge that no one will be left behind.”

Read the UN Secretary General's Report on Progress Toward the Sustainable Development Goals (2018), find links to UN resources on the SDGs, and watch UN videos promoting the SDGs.

FAWCO Target Programs Support the United Nations Development Agenda

FAWCO Sub Logos Target Program Every three years, FAWCO members choose a project to focus efforts on education, awareness and fundraising for a priority UN development issue. By combining the resources and energies of our 12,000 members around the world, FAWCO has been able to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals since 2016, and the Millennium Development Goals prior to 2015. Target Projects include:

Health 2007-2009: Donated 30,000 insecticide-treated mosquito nets, reducing the incidence of malaria in target areas in Africa by 70%.
Environment 2009-2013: Funded the construction of over 630 wells to supply drinking and agricultural water for 1,500 families in rural Cambodia.
Human Rights 2013-2016: Provided economic opportunities for survivors of sex trafficking in Mozambique, Uganda and El Salvador.
Education 2016-2019: Fundraising campaign for Hope Beyond Displacement with the Collateral Repair Project in Amman, Jordan.
Health 2019-2022: Fundraising campaign and anti-FGM awareness campaign supporting S.A.F.E. Project of Hope for Girls and Women Tanzania.
Environment 2022-2025: Fundraising and awareness campaign supporting Awesome Blossoms a project of Safe Spaces Kenya.