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CoNGO President Issues Statement Honoring United Nations Charter Day

“We representatives of international NGOs in consultative relationship with the UN fear that while attention is focused on the global health crisis, efforts to address the ongoing climate crisis, achieve sustainable development and gender equality, protect human rights and promote peace are being neglected.”

New York City, 26 June 2020 (CoNGO InfoNews) — The president of the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO), Liberato C. Bautista, today issued a statement honoring the United Nations Charter Day. The organization pleaded and demanded that governments “recognize that the civil society organizations in their countries and internationally are a powerful force working for the public good,  acting selflessly to promote and expand those same causes for which the United Nations was established.”

This statement from the CoNGO President follows two other statements by CoNGO. On October 12, 2019, it issued the “CoNGO Declaration on the Occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations”, emphasizing that “the 75th Anniversary…be an occasion for strengthening the United Nations, expanding its role to more effectively engage civil society everywhere.” It also urged “all governments to strengthen their commitment to the United Nations not only morally but also financially and materially.”

On May 12, 2020, it issued the statement “COVID-19 Recovery: Building Back Better.” In the statement, CoNGO called for “global cooperation and solidarity”, especially noting that “nationalism, racism, intolerance, xenophobia, and border closures have too often prevailed. Measures to fight the pandemic have led to restrictions of long-established civic rights and democratic structures. An effective global response will require building consensus and strengthening concerted action to mitigate the multiple challenges we all face.”

Together, the declaration and statement compose CoNGO’s contribution to global dialogue,  conversation, and stock taking around the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations this year.

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View a documentary here about the UN Charter’s past, present and future.

For more information about CoNGO and these statements, visit www.ngocongo.org.

CoNGO Issues Statement Ahead of the United Nations 75th Anniversary; President to Hold Briefings in Geneva, Vienna and New York

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 | 10th 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.

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