NGOs and diplomacy

Geneva Peace Talks: End Racism. Build Peace.

Dear NGO Representatives,

The United Nations Office at Geneva, Interpeace, and the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform are pleased to invite you and your staff to attend the 10th anniversary edition of the Geneva PeaceTalks. Marking the International Day of Peace, the Geneva PeaceTalks will take place on Wednesday, 21 September 2022, from 4:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. in Room XVIII at the Palais des Nations and online. The event will be followed by a reception at the Bar Serpent.

The 2022 edition revisits the original theme of the first Geneva PeaceTalks in 2013 to ask again: “What does peace mean to you?” The meaning of the word “peace” can indeed vary according to the context, and its significance is different according to people and their experiences. This event will be an opportunity to explore this question. In addition, for International Day of Peace 2022, the theme is “End Racism. Build Peace.”

The event will feature speakers from a wide range of backgrounds, from the media to peacebuilding, the creative sector and the police service. We will hear from Commissioner Ann-Marie Orler from the UN’s Standing Police Capacity; Ibaa Abusin, a Horn of Africa Social Media Expert at the Centre of Humanitarian Dialogue; Amad Mian, the co-founder of Pakistani creative platform Dastaangoi; Wasim Almasri and Eran Nissan, a peacebuilding duo from Palestine and Israel; Maged Al-Kholidy, a Yemeni activist and founder of a peacebuilding NGO; Amadou Dabitao, founder of the media platform Banlieusard Nouveau; and Ukrainian opera singer, Daria Mykolenko.

Due to COVID-19, the wearing of masks is mandatory in conference rooms and strongly recommended in all public areas at the Palais des Nations. Early registration for in-person participation is recommended as it will be closed once the maximum capacity is reached. To follow the event online or to register, please use the following link: www.peacetalks.net/pt/geneva-2022.

This year’s Geneva PeaceTalks are co-organized, once again, by the United Nations Office at Geneva, Interpeace and the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform. This year’s edition is made possible in partnership with the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, and with the generous support of B8 of Hope, the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Mirabaud, Salesforce and Second Peninsula.

With best regards,

NGO Liaison Unit

———————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Cher(e)s représentant(e)s d’ONG,

L’Office des Nations Unies à Genève, Interpeace et la Plateforme de Genève pour la consolidation de la paix ont le plaisir de vous inviter, ainsi que votre personnel, à participer à l’édition du 10e anniversaire des Pourparlers de Genève pour la paix. Marquant la Journée internationale de la paix, les Pourparlers de Genève pour la paix auront lieu le mercredi 21 septembre 2022, de 16h00 à 17h15, dans la salle XVIII du Palais des Nations et en ligne. L’événement sera suivi d’une réception au Bar Serpent.

L’édition 2022 revisite le thème original des premiers Pourparlers de Genève pour la paix en 2013 pour demander à nouveau : “Que signifie la paix pour vous ?”. Le sens du mot “paix” peut en effet varier en fonction du contexte, et sa signification est différente selon les personnes et leurs expériences. Cet événement sera l’occasion d’explorer cette question. En outre, pour la Journée internationale de la paix 2022, le thème est “Mettre fin au racisme. Construire la paix“.

L’événement accueillera des intervenants issus d’horizons très divers, des médias à la consolidation de la paix, en passant par le secteur créatif et le service de police. Nous entendrons Ann-Marie Orler, commissaire de la Force de police permanente des Nations Unies; Ibaa Abusin, experte en réseaux sociaux de la Corne de l’Afrique au Centre pour le dialogue humanitaire; Amad Mian, cofondateur de la plateforme créative pakistanaise Dastaangoi ; Wasim Almasri et Eran Nissan, un duo de construction de la paix venus de Palestine et d’Israël ; Maged Al-Kholidy, un activiste yéménite et fondateur d’une ONG de construction de la paix ; Amadou Dabitao, fondateur de la plateforme médiatique Banlieusard Nouveau ; et la chanteuse d’opéra ukrainienne, Daria Mykolenko.

En raison du COVID-19, le port du masque est obligatoire dans les salles de conférence et fortement recommandé dans tous les espaces publics du Palais des Nations. Il est recommandé de s’inscrire rapidement pour participer en personne, car les inscriptions seront closes lorsque la capacité maximale sera atteinte. Pour suivre l’événement en ligne ou pour vous inscrire, veuillez utiliser le lien suivant : www.peacetalks.net/pt/geneva-2022.

Cette année encore, les Pourparlers de Genève pour la paix sont co-organisés par l’Office des Nations Unies à Genève, Interpeace et la Plateforme de Genève pour la consolidation de la paix. L’édition de cette année est rendue possible en partenariat avec la Mission permanente de la Suisse auprès de l’Office des Nations Unies et des autres organisations internationales à Genève, et grâce au généreux soutien de B8 of Hope, du Centre pour le dialogue humanitaire, de Mirabaud, de Salesforce et de Second Peninsula.

Bien cordialement, 

Le bureau de Liaison avec les ONG

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace, and Security, please visit  ngocdps.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bobbinassar@yahoo.com or bknotts@uua.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit  ngosocdev.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Intergenerational Solidarity, please email the vice chair at susanneseperson@gmail.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Language and Languages, please email the co-chairs at fmhult@umbc.edu or tonkin@hartford.edu.

CoNGO Open Mic on UN-NGO Relations (For NGOs in Consultative Status Only)

Dear CoNGO members and NGO Committee leaders,
Greetings. I am sending this message to  members of NGOs listed as members of CoNGO (Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations) and/or members of related NGO committees.
By now, if your NGO is in consultative status with ECOSOC, you or someone in your organization would have received the email below which was sent by the NGO Branch of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA). If you have not read the email, I encourage you to do so now, including the Concept Note available here.
In response to this UN DESA email–calling on NGOs to send written submissions in preparation for a December 2022 consultation between NGOs and the ECOSOC Committee on NGOs–CoNGO invites CoNGO members to an Open Mic to talk about the questions raised in the concept note.
This Open Mic will help CoNGO prepare its written submission, the deadline of which is August 31. It could also help your NGO prepare its response if you have not already done so.  But irrespective of the deadline, the open mic is a venue to talk about common concerns related to UN-NGO relations, not the least about accreditation and access to and at the UN.
Register in advance: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZArdOqurTIpG9VI2Jlu0yiuASaKG4wBRe4zAfter registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
If you are a CoNGO member or NGO Committee officer and want to speak (no more than 3 minutes) during the Open Mic, please email the CoNGO President Liberato Bautista at president@ngocongo.org. Please let me know which NGO in our list you are a member of: ngocongo.org/congo-membership
For some background information about UN-NGO relations, visit:
I look forward to your participation.
Best regards,

Liberato C. Bautista | Levi

President, Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in 
Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO)

[deadline] Call for submissions to CoNGO consultation on resolution 1996/31

Attention dear NGO partners:

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) will hold consultations with organizations in consultative status with ECOSOC to discuss questions of interest to the Committee or to the organizations relating to the relationship between the NGOs and the United Nations in line with paragraph 61 (a) of ECOSOC resolution 1996/31. The consultations will take the form of written submissions and an interactive hearing which will be held in New York on 9 December 2022 from 10:00am – 1:00pm.

As part of the consultation process, all NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC are invited to submit their contributions and views on four key questions in the Concept Note ahead of the hearing via these instructions.

Instructions for submission of of Written Inputs:

  • Use the name of your organization as the document’s name.
  • The written submission should address the four questions outlined in the Concept Note.
  • Your submission to each question should not exceed 500 words.
  • To submit your written inputs, Log in to your NGO profile and under the “Correspondence tab” click on “New Message.” Attach the document to the email, and use “2022 Consultations with NGOs in consultative status-Written Submissions” as the email title/subject, and “Event/Meeting” as the category.
  • Please note that we are not able to accept other formats such as PDF,  jpeg, etc.
  • Press “send.” Please note that your submission is final; you will not be able to edit your statement submission or send multiple versions.
  • Kindly ensure that your written submission is finalized prior to sending the document.

Instructions on registering for participation at the Interactive Hearing will be made available in the coming weeks.

Your contribution is important! We appreciate your participation and commitment to NGO access at the UN.

NGO access to and at the UN is also UN’s access to the voice, expertise and support of civil society to the multilateral body, CoNGO President asserted at a meeting called by the ECOSOC President

New York City, 7 April 2021 (CoNGO InfoNews) – The United Nations and non-governmental organizations are each the poorer without the other. Grassroots, national, regional and international diplomacy have benefited from UN and NGO consultation and collaboration in addressing wide-ranging issues and problems confronted by governments, peoples, and humanity’s shared habitat.

This is the gist of the presentation by Liberato Bautista at the February 1, 2021 joint meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) with the Chairs of its functional commissions and expert bodies. Bautista, the president of the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations, was invited  to address the meeting by the ECOSOC President, Ambassador Munir Akram.

“It was a laudable gesture by Ambassador Akram to invite me to address the meeting, and calling me to speak in the middle of a crowded two-hour schedule, when all participants were still online to hear what the sole NGO representative had to say,” Bautista recollected.

“Engaging in dialogue and maintaining accessible lines of communication is critical to the consultative relation between NGOs and the UN System. NGO support for robust multilateralism entails access by NGOs to and at the UN, which in the same measure, also means UN’s access to the voice, expertise and support offered by civil society,” Bautista stated.

Bautista, addressing the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has affected NGO access to and at the UN, asserted that NGOs, like CoNGO, “stand ready to secure together the public space so that inclusive, participatory and democratic institutions thrive and prosper” rather than curtailed and pushed back during the pandemic.

The challenges that lay ahead for both the UN and NGOs for which their consultation and collaboration are needed were laid bare by Bautista. “It is time that the multistakeholder actors of our collaboration, including us NGOs, are put to work to address this coronavirus pandemic and the intersecting pandemics resulting from climate change, from hunger and poverty, from forced migration, from racism and xenophobia, employing every principle and approach, not the least of which include whole-of-government and all-of-society.”

Advocating for robust consultation and collaboration between the UN and NGOs is at the core of CoNGO’s key aims and objectives. And addressing the ECOSOC at this meeting is not CoNGO’s first time. Before this February meeting this year, Bautista also addressed the briefing for civil society organized by the ECOSOC presidency of Norway on May 4, 2020.

At the May 2020 meeting, Bautista maintained that “policy-making in a time of pandemic must strengthen our resolve to work together to address underlying fundamental inequalities in our society that hinder the full realization of the SDGs. In this important task,  a genuine engagement of civil society at the national and global levels is primordial.”

Recent Posts