The 79th Session of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific will be held at the United Nations Conference Centre ESCAP Hall in Bangkok, from 15 to 19 May 2023.
This is an in-person event and all participants who appear in the letter of credentials are requested to register online at indico as soon as possible but no later than 21 April 2023. Only the names of duly accredited and registered participants will be included in the list of participants.
The theme of the session is “Accelerating climate action in Asia and the Pacific for sustainable development”, and this annual session will be an opportunity to strengthen regional cooperation on climate change.
For more information about the 79th Session of UNESCAP for Asia and the Pacific, please visit their website.
CoNGO Notes:For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org.
The sixty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women will take place from 6 to 17 March 2023 and will consider the priority theme of, “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”. The session will also review the agreed conclusions of the sixty-second session, “Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls”.
Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from all regions of the world are invited to contribute to the session.
Registration for ECOSOC-accredited NGOs will be open from 7 October 2022 till 27 January 2023.
Please be advised it is the responsibility of your organization to approve your registration. Upon registering, please contact your organization for approval. Your organization’s designated conference focal point may select the menu item on the left to access the approval area.
Due to space constraints, the numbers of attendees to CSW sessions should be kept to a minimum and should not exceed 20 representatives per organization.
If you have additional questions, please contact csw@unwomen.org.
Please be advised that the United Nations does not charge fees for participation in the Commission on the Status of Women sessions. The United Nations will not pay for any expenses in connection with the participation of NGO representatives in the sessions of CSW. Such arrangements and costs are the exclusive responsibility of participants.
Arrangements for the session may be subject to change at any time in response to the global health situation.
CoNGO Notes: The NGO Committee on the Status of Women/NY is a Substantive Committee of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations. Likewise, for more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women/Vienna, please visit ngocswvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women/Geneva, please visit ngocsw-geneva.ch. For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bknotts@uua.org or bobbinassar@yahoo.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org.
Priority theme: Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls
Review theme: Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls (agreed conclusions of the sixty-second session)
Bureau
The Bureau of the Commission plays a crucial role in facilitating the preparation for, and in ensuring the successful outcome of the annual sessions of the Commission. Bureau members serve for two years. In line with ECOSOC decision 2002/234, the Commission holds the first meeting of its subsequent session, immediately following the closure of the regular session, to elect new members of the Bureau as needed.
The Bureau for the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (2023) comprises the following members:
H.E. Ms. Mathu Joyini (South Africa), Chair (African States Group)
H.E. Ms. Antje Leendertse (Germany), Vice-Chair (Western European and Other States Group)
Mr. Māris Burbergs (Latvia), Vice-Chair (Eastern European States Group)
H.E. Ms. Maria del Carmen Squeff (Argentina), Vice-Chair designate (Latin American and Caribbean States Group)
Ms. Chimguundari Navaan-Yunden (Mongolia), Vice-Chair designate (Asia and Pacific States Group)
CoNGO Notes: The NGO Committee on the Status of Women/NY is a Substantive Committee of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations. Likewise, for more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women/Vienna, please visit ngocswvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women/Geneva, please visit ngocsw-geneva.ch. For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bknotts@uua.org or bobbinassar@yahoo.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Education, Learning, and Literacy, please visit facebook.com/NGOCELLatUN. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit un-ngocrip.net. For more information on the NGO Committee on Mental Health, please visit ngomentalhealth.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Family/NY, please visit ngofamilyny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Migration, please visit ngo-migration.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Family/Vienna, please visit viennafamilycommittee.org.
The members of the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development/Vienna and the NGO Committee on the Status of Women/Vienna are looking forward to seeing you on Thursday, Dec. 15th!
The NGO CSW Vienna meeting will begin at 3pm.
The joint meeting of the CSW and the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development/Vienna will begin at 4pm.
The meetings will be both in-person (VIC Room C0237) and via Zoom (see link below). This will be our first hybrid meeting, so some technical glitches might occur.
Topic: NGO CSW Vienna’s Zoom Meeting Time: Dec 15, 2022 03:00 PM Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna
CoNGO Notes: The NGO Committee on Sustainable Development/Vienna is a Substantive Committee of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations. Likewise, for more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women/Vienna, please visit ngocswvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development/NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women/Geneva, please visit ngocsw-geneva.ch. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women/NY, please visit ngocsw.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org.
We invite you all to sign on to the letter, and the deadline for doing so is Friday 16 December 2022. You can find the letter here and the form to sign on is here.
__________
To the kind attention of:
Permanent Representatives and Permanent Observers to the United Nations in New York
United Nations Secretariat, Agencies and Programmes
X December 2022
Subject: Implementation of UNGA Second Committee resolution on promotion of inclusive and effective international tax cooperation at the United Nations (A/C.2/77/L.11/Rev.1)
Your Excellencies distinguished representatives of UN Member States,
We, the undersigned civil society organisations and trade unions, strongly support and welcome the UNGA resolution on promotion of inclusive and effective international tax cooperation at the UN (A/C.2/77/L.11/Rev.1). We commend the Africa Group for its excellent leadership on this issue and for finally ensuring implementation of the long-standing demand of developing countries for a UN intergovernmental negotiation process on international tax. We urge all UN Member States to maintain and reinforce the spirit of international cooperation that resulted in the adoption by consensus of this historic resolution.
Furthermore, we are writing to you with a call for all governments to work constructively towards the urgent and efficient implementation of the resolution. This includes:
Supporting a speedy approval in the UNGA Fifth Committee of the required budget allocation for the implementation of the resolution, in line with the related Programme budget implications analysis (A/C.2/77/L.75). The budget requirement, totaling US$ 432,700, was presented to Member States ahead of the adoption of the resolution. We now count on all UN Member States to stand by the consensus agreement reached with the resolution and confirm the allocation of the required resources. We also urge all UN Member States to keep in mind that international tax cooperation is urgently needed, not least to combat tax-related illicit financial flows, which are costing governments hundreds of billions of dollars in lost tax income every year. This must therefore be a matter of high importance and urgency.
Supporting strong stakeholder involvement in the consultation process related to the UN Secretary General’s report as mandated by the resolution. We strongly welcome the fact that stakeholder consultation is explicitly included in the text of the resolution, and we stand ready to make our contributions. We, the undersigned civil society organisations and trade unions, bring in-depth knowledge from all regions of the world about the devastating impacts of the failure of international tax cooperation, including the continued bleeding of public resources in the form of illicit financial flows. We also bring concrete and specific proposals for solutions, including for how a future UN Convention on Tax could be designed.
Supporting a strong intergovernmental UN process to strengthen international tax cooperation. Through the resolution, all UN Member States have agreed to “begin intergovernmental discussions in New York at United Nations Headquarters on ways to strengthen the inclusiveness and effectiveness of international tax cooperation”. We strongly welcome this vital initiative, and stress the importance of moving forward with urgency. As stated in the adopted resolution, combating illicit financial flows is an essential development challenge, and developing countries are particularly susceptible to the negative impact of illicit financial flows. Therefore, we believe that the modalities for the foreseen process must be adopted as a matter of high priority, and this should take place no later than the seventy-eighth session of the UN General Assembly. Furthermore, we would like to stress the importance of ensuring that the modalities provide for a transparent and inclusive member state-led negotiation process with full participation of stakeholders, including civil society.
Despite the fact that international tax rules and standards affect all countries and people of the world, there has until this point been no inclusive international body where all countries were able to participate on an equal footing in the decision-making on international tax matters. This injustice is at the heart of the failure of the international tax system, which has continued to be characterised by injustice, inefficiency, incoherence, unilateral actions and beggar-thy-neighbor policies. All countries have paid a high price for this failure, but the impacts on developing countries have been particularly hard. The UN remains the only truly universal body where all countries participate as equals, and the consensus adoption of the UN resolution, including the decision to begin intergovernmental discussions on international tax matters under the auspices of the UN, constitutes a truly historical shift towards fairness and inclusivity.
The urgency of this matter cannot be overstated. In light of the Covid-19 pandemic and the “cost of living crisis”, the fight to increase domestic resource mobilisation and combat illicit financial flows has never been more vital. In 2021, the State of Tax Justice report estimated that countries around the world are losing over US$450 billion per year due to international tax dodging and abuse by multinational corporations and wealthy individuals. Faced with the challenges of financing the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and combatting the global environmental crises, it is clear that the international community must take urgent action to strengthen international tax cooperation and stop the immense bleeding of public resources.
We remain at your disposal if you would like to receive more information or would like to meet to discuss this issue further.
Civil Society Financing for Development (FfD) Group
Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ): Alliance of five continental tax and fiscal justice networks in Asia (Tax & Fiscal Justice Asia), Africa (Tax Justice Network Africa), Latin America (Red de Justicia Fiscal de América Latina y el Caribe), Europe (Tax Justice-Europe) and North America (Canadians for Tax Fairness & FACT Coalition), collectively representing hundreds of organisations.
European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad)
Pursuant to General Assembly decision A/RES/73/226 of 20 December 2018, the Midterm Comprehensive Review of the Implementation of the Objectives of the International Decade for Action (UN 2023 Water Conference) will be held from 22 to 24 March 2023 at the UN Headquarters in New York. The co-hosts are the governments of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Republic of Tajikistan.
Side events can be organized in connection with the UN 2023 Water Conference, either in-person or virtually, by Member States, the UN system, Intergovernmental Organizations and accredited non-governmental stakeholders. The side events will be an opportunity for all participants to share knowledge and solutions to accelerate implementation of SDG 6, identify new and emerging issues, exchange national and local experiences and practices, and showcase voluntary commitments for the Water Action Agenda.
Priority will be given to events organized by Member States and those organized in partnership by several networks/organizations. All interested parties are strongly encouraged to partner with others to organize a side event.
Side events can be hosted (1) in-person inside the UN Headquarters; (2) in-person in other locations in New York; or (3) virtually.
For additional details and guidance on how to submit a side event proposal, including guidelines, please visit the website: bit.ly/Water2023SideEvents
The deadline for applications is 13 January 2023. The Conference Secretariat will review submissions and only notify those organizers whose events have been approved.
CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bknotts@uua.org or bobbinassar@yahoo.com. 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 Sustainable Development/NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development/Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit un-ngocrip.net.
The hearing will take place at the UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday, 13 December 2022 from 10:00am – 1:00pm NY time (16:00pm – 19:00 pm GVA time) and will provide an opportunity for NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC to present and exchange views with members of the Committee on the issues outlined in the attached Concept Note.
The Committee is keen to ensure broad consultations, and to facilitate the participation of NGOs from all regions of the world. The three duty stations away from Headquarters have been assigned three slots each for interventions by NGOs. In view of the technical limitations related to the virtual component of the meeting and the time constraint, NGOs who wish to speak at the hearing from different UN duty stations will be given up to three minutes to make their intervention and will be selected on a first come first serve basis. The deadline for registration (at unog.ngo@un.org) is 3:00 pm on Monday, 28 November 2022.
UN WEB TV will provide interpretation in all 6 UN languages, but all remote interventions from other duty stations, such as Geneva, must be made in one language, either French or English.
*NGO representatives in Geneva wishing to follow the consultations in person can do it from the Palais des Nations in Room XXII. Only NGO representatives in possession of a valid UNOG Grounds pass will be able to attend.
CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development/NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development/Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org. 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 bknotts@uua.org or bobbinassar@gmail.com.
UNESCO, in co-operation with the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the members of Global Task Force for Making a Decade of Action for Indigenous Languages, will organize and host a High-level launch event on 13 December 2022 from 10.00 to 18.00 (Central European Time) at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France (Room II).
The High-level launch event will primarily target high level representatives of UNESCO Member States, Indigenous leaders, the UN system, civil society national researcher organizations and representatives from the public and private sector.
The High-level launch will:
Mark the launch of the International Decade of Indigenous languages and raise awareness primarily among duty bearers on the critical situation of Indigenous languages around the world,
Foster international cooperation, sharing of experiences and creation of multistakeholder partnerships for the preservation, revitalization and promotion of Indigenous languages,
Reflect on immediate actions to be taken by all actors to implement the Global Action Plan of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (UNESCO 41 C/INF.14).
The event will provide an open space for discussion, sharing of good practices, and presentation of concrete projects. It will also feature a cultural performance by Indigenous artists. A global social media campaign is being carried out in conjunction with the launch event, to increase awareness about the International Decade of Indigenous Languages.
CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Language and Languages, please email the chair at fmhult@umbc.edu or the vice chair at tonkin@hartford.edu. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit un-ngocrip.net. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Education, Learning, and Literacy, please visit facebook.com/NGOCELLatUN. For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bobbinassar@yahoo.com or bknotts@uua.org.
The United Nations (UN) Permanent Forum of People of African Descent will hold its very first session from 5 to 8 December 2022 at the Palais des Nations of the UN Office in Geneva, Switzerland.
Tuesday 29 November 2022, from 1 to 3 PM CET (Zurich time)
(7:00 AM in New York City, USA / 9:30 AM in Curitiba, Brazil / 1 PM Yaoundé, Cameroon / 7 PM in Bangkok, Thailand)
Ahead of this historic session, the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) of the World Council of Churches (WCC) offers a virtual side event entitled The New UN Forum for People of African descent: realising the promises of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA)?
What are the lessons learnt since the 2001 Durban World Conference Against Racism? What kind of progress have we witnessed at the UN and other regional fora?
What can we hope from this new body? How can churches contribute to its work?
Policy efforts to combat systemic racism and racial discrimination
Structural racism as the legacy of slavery and colonialism: communities of African descent across the globe live in structural discrimination and structural invisibility, and are scarred by poverty, underdevelopment, marginalization, social exclusion and economic disparities.
Moderator: Rev. Jennifer S. Leath, WCC Central Committee member, African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME)
Panellists:
Rev. Dr Iva Carruthers, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference
Dr. Sushi Raj, member of UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent
Ms Marilia A. Schüller, Methodist Church of Brazil
Rev. Dr Angelique Walker-Smith, WCC President from North America
Rev. Emmanuel Wayi, Cameroon Network for Alternative Solutions (CAMNAS)
Rev. Lamont Wells, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
CoNGO Notes: For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit un-ngocrip.net.
You are kindly invited to an Interfaith Prayer Service for World AIDS Day on December 1, 2022, under the theme “The impact of HIV among the marginalized within the marginalized.”
The service will be held in Tillman Chapel at 777 United Nations Plaza, NY, New York 10017, and will begin at 1:00pm EST.
CoNGO Notes: For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values, and Global Concerns/NY, please visit csvgc-ny.org. 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 for Rare Diseases, please visit ngocommitteerarediseases.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org.
