UN NGO 2010 Activities
The FAWCO UN NGO Team was busy this year working on several UN projects, attending meetings at UN Headquarters in New York and Geneva as well as promoting several key international issues of vital interest to FAWCO members.
Special Projects
Target Program -This year FAWCO member clubs voted to select “Clean Water” as the Target area for FAWCO’s major UN NGO program to support the UN Millennium Goals (MDG’s), This spring, the UN NGO Director worked with the FAWCO’s 3rd VP and VP of the FAWCO Foundation to establish guidelines for the selection criteria for the Target Program and worked as a special
advisor to the Target Selection Committee. The member clubs voted for the
“Wells for Clean Water” Program, sponsored by the Tabitha organization, hat provides wells for families in rural Cambodia. Over the next two years, FAWCO clubs will be raising money to promote this program as well as promoting awareness about importance of clean water.
Eleanor Roosevelt-FAWCO continues its support of Eleanor Roosevelt, honoring her work as the driving force behind the adoption the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by sponsoring a website set up for the 60th anniversary of the UNDHR at www.erooseveltudhr.org
FAWCO is also proud to provide financial support for a scholarship to the Eleanor Roosevelt Girls’ Leadership Workshop (ERGLW) held each summer. This year Alexandra Von Moos from Berne, Switzerland was selected to participate in the prestigious leadership program.
In March, Pam Perraud, UN NGO Director was invited by the Eleanor Roosevelt Center to a special reception in NYC to meet Curtis Roosevelt, grandson of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt.
Attendance at Meetings
UN HQ New York
The UN NGO Director began the year by attending special 2010 NGO Global Forum on Women Beijing +15 that preceded the 45th annual Committee on the Status of Women (CSW) Conference at the UN in New York. Top-level speakers there discussed the progress made on women’s rights since the Beijing Conference in 1995. At the CSW Conference, FAWCO was invited to several special briefings at the US Mission, which included question and answer sessions with Susan Rice, the new US Ambassador to the UN as well as Melanne Verveer, US Ambassador –At-Large for Global Women’s Issues.
During the year, Marge McGowan, FAWCO’s main NY NGO Representative , attended regular NGO briefings at the UN as well as CSW Committee meetings, which included the following topics-
trafficking of women and girls, US-UN Relations, family advocacy at the UN, safe water as a key to global health, food security, a child’s right to health, migrant women as well as a special celebration of the 20th Annual International Day of Older Persons. She also attended a special NGO session to meet the new head of the UN General Assembly.
UN HQ Geneva
Geneva UN NGO Representative, Sara Von Moos, attended regular meetings of the CSW and Human Rights NGO sub committees this year, including the women’s right to health. She did extensive research and a presentation the issue of obstetric fistula In addition, she went to several meetings during the 15th Session of the Human Rights Commission in Sept and October including sessions on water and sanitation, human rights and extreme poverty as well as discrimination against women in law. Along with the NGO Director, Sara also attended, the annual Geneva Summit of Youth For Human Rights in August at the UN. Sara Von Moos and Pam Perraud along with fellow Geneva UN NGO Representatives- Alicia Sauer, Anne Cameron Rutchmann attended a Human Rights Day Celebration on Dec 10 in Geneva honoring human rights workers from around the world. After the program, they spoke with the session organizer, Navi Pillay, the new UN High Commissioner of Human Rights.
UN DPI Meeting in Australia
In September, for the first time, FAWCO sent two local volunteers, Katherine Crick and Erica Higbie, to represent FAWCO at the annual UN NGO Conference sponsored by the UN Department of Information(DPI). The three-day meeting was held in Melbourne, Australia and the focus was on “Global Health,” more specifically on how to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) related to child mortality, maternal health and combating HIV/AIDS.
UN Advocacy
CEDAW-FAWCO continues to support several initiatives related to UN activities, the most important being advocacy for the ratification by the US Senate of CEDAW- the Convention to End All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Last February, FAWCO joined with hundreds of other NGO’s to support a new Coalition for CEDAW. NGO Representative Paula Daeppen prepared position papers on CEDAW for the Overseas American Week team who meet with Congressmen in April. This fall, FAWCO wrote a special letter to Senator Durbin and the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights Committee, which held the first Senate hearing ever on CEDAW. While the convention has yet to come up for a full vote of the Senate, Senator Durbin was overwhelmed by the enormous amount of interest in the convention.
FAWCO also joined with other UN NGO’s in advocating changes at the UN, which included requesting the new UN agency for women and advocating for the General Assembly to adopt special convention to address the needs and rights of older women.
UN NGO Team
This year a new position entitled “ UN NGO Advocate” was added to the UN NGO Team. The position was created for those members who lived far from UN headquarters but who were interested in promoting the UN We now have a small but growing list of UN NGO Advocates who live in Nairobi, Malmo, Barcelona, Taunus, and Dubai. My many thanks go out to all of the UN NGO Reps and Advocates for their help and support on UN activities during 2010. For more information about FAWCO’s work at the UN go to the website at www.fawco.org
Respectfully submitted,
Pamela Perraud, UN NGO Director