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NEWS FLASH:  (15 January 2021) With everything happening in the world right now, it’s wonderful to have a reason to celebrate. On January 22, 2021, the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons is entering into force, establishing in international law a categorical ban on nuclear weapons, seventy-five years after their development and first use! See PEAC’s invitation to celebrate.

New York, 16 November 2020 (CoNGO InfoNews) – Three heads of organizations, including the president of the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO), join to welcome the imminent entry into force of the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. “The TPNW fills a gap in international law that for far too long saw the most destructive weapon ever invented, the only weapon which poses an acute existential threat to all humanity and to the biosphere, as the only weapon of mass destruction not expressly prohibited under international law”, they said.

Together with Liberato Bautista of CoNGO, the statement was signed by Michael Christ, executive director of the 1985 Nobel Peace laureate International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), and Rebecca Irby, president of Peace, Education, Art, Communication (PEAC) Institute. IPPNW and PEAC Institute are partners of the 2017 Nobel Peace laureate International Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons. They are both full member organizations of CoNGO.

The full statement is available here.

Related stories:

PEAC Institute press release.

IPPNW

New York City, 12 October 2020 (CoNGO InfoNews) — The president of the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Status with the United Nations (CoNGO) issued today a statement congratulating the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) for receiving the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize.

The full statement of President Liberato C. Bautista, is as follows:

On behalf of the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO), I congratulate the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on its receiving the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize, in recognition both of its many years of action to  alleviate hunger across the world and of its relief work during this time of pandemic.

The award to the WFP is a yes to food security and a no to “the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.” In their announcement of the award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee stated: “The link between hunger and armed conflict is a vicious circle: war and conflict can cause food insecurity and hunger, just as hunger and food insecurity can cause latent conflicts to flare up and trigger the use of violence. We will never achieve the goal of zero hunger unless we also put an end to war and armed conflict.”

Funded by the voluntary contributions of UN Member States and of civil society worldwide, the World Food Programme is a shining example of cooperation between government on the one hand and civil society on the other. Much of its work is dependent on partnership with non-governmental organizations of the kind that the Conference of NGOs is proud to represent.

At this time of crisis, when many governments are struggling to feed their people, and in which the incidence of poverty is rising because of economic disruption, CoNGO calls on UN Member States to support the global work of the World Food Programme, on nongovernmental organizations to work increasingly together to redouble their efforts to achieve the same goals, and on people of goodwill everywhere to play their part both in supporting the World Food Programme and in urging their governments to do the same.

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For a printable version of the statement, visit www.ngocongo.org
Visit WFP for more information.
For more information on the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize, visit the Nobel Prize.

For full version, see:  English, Esperanto, French and Spanish.

Geneva,  ​9 ​December 2019​
Vienna, 11 December 2019
New York, 18 December 2019

(New York, 22 November 2019) President Liberato Bautista ​of the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO) will be holding presidential briefings in Geneva, Vienna and New York this December.

The briefings will focus on CoNGO’s Declaration on the 75th anniversary of the United Nations. This thoughtful and challenging document was adopted by the CoNGO Board when it met in Geneva this past October.

The Declaration was a product of intense​ ​consultations involving many CoNGO members and leaders of CoNGO Substantive Committees​ worldwide. ​

The Declaration honors the United Nations System​ ​as the essential multilateral mechanism that the world needs to mobilize, coordinate and manage solutions to ​the planet’s​ ​”Problems without Borders”.

CoNGO calls for the 75th Anniversary to be the occasion for the United Nations System to be strengthened, better structured, better used by​ ​governments,  and considerably better financed.

CoNGO calls for the UN System to make greater use of the competence and experience of NGOs and the broader Civil Society as essential partners in ensuring a peaceful and just world built upon achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

President Bautista will hold ​these ​Presidential ​B​riefing​s​ to expound upon the Declaration, and to seek further input and participation in conveying the central messages to Civil​ ​Society worldwide, to all governments, ​t​o all elements and entities​ ​of the UN System, and to the people of the planet.

​President Bautista will make use of the occasion to discuss CoNGO’s invitation to other NGO and civil society groups with similar initiatives of revisiting the 75 years of the UN and proposing visions of the “world we need”, the world we want” and the UN that is responsive, accountable and well-funded to meet these needs and wants.

Bautista hopes for the development of he calls “CS75 at UN75”. These 75 unities that will be developed through NGO and civil society consultations will be short statements on agreed issues and concerns that shall be conveyed to all entities within the UN ​System and its member states as the UN approaches its 75th anniversary next year and plan for the years ahead.

The CoNGO Declaration is for use throughout the whole Anniversary Year, and in all UN and Civil Society fora. It is available in English, French and Spanish versions.

Your presence and active participation ​in any of these three  briefings is most welcome.

PRACTICAL  INFORMATION

December 9 Briefing in Geneva, Switzerland
15.00 to  17.00​ | John Knox International Center | Room 3
27 Chemin des Crêts de Pregny, Grand Saconnex

(The John Knox Center has two free parking lots. Room 3 is downstairs in the main building. Tea and coffee will be available in Room 3 from 14.30. Please confirm your presence to Cyril Ritchie at firstvp@ngocongo.org)

December 11 Briefing in Vienna, Austria
15.00 to 17.00 | Vienna International Center | Room C0213
Wagramer Str. 5, 1400 Wien, Austria

The Presidential Briefing will be part of a special event organized by CoNGO’s Second Vice President, Dr. Martina Gredler, together with leaders of NGO Committees in Vienna. The theme of this special meeting is “Working Effectively Within the CoNGO Committees: Present and Future”. The event will include reports from the CoNGO committees in Vienna and a brief introduction to CoNGO—its history and activities. Please confirm your presence to Martina Gredler at secondvp@ngocongo.org or zahnaerztin@yahoo.com.

December 18 Briefing and Holiday Celebration in New York, USA
15.00 to 17.30 | Church Center for the United Nations | 10^th Floor Conference Room
777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017 USA

This Presidential Briefing will include a discussion by a panel of reactors to the CoNGO Declaration. Panelists will come from civil society, the UN system and UN member states. The event will also serve as a holiday celebration for NGO leaders in the area. Please confirm your presence to Liberato Bautista at president@ngocongo.org.