CoNGO 75th anniversary

CoNGO 75th Anniversary Commemoration in Geneva and the Sixth Global Thematic Webinar

The Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in

Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO)

and co-organizer

with co-sponsors

invite you to the

CoNGO 75th Anniversary Commemoration in Geneva

and the

Sixth Global Thematic Webinar

CoNGO and UDHR: Celebrating 75 Years

December 15, 2023

Geneva 13:30 – 17:45 CET | New York 7:30 – 11:45 EDT | Nairobi 15:30-19:45 EAT
Bangkok 1:30-5:45 ICT Dec. 16 | Fiji 00:30-4:45 FJT Dec. 16
Rio de Janeiro 9:30-12:45 BRT | Beirut 14:30 – 18:45 BRT
Time Zone Calculator

Venue: In-person (Main Hall, Ecumenical Centre, Geneva) and Online (Zoom)

This event will also be live-streamed on YouTube.

Language interpretation in English, Arabic, French and Spanish

Register for In-Person Participation

Register for Online Participation

Concept Note Ver. 7.0

A. In commemoration of its 75th Anniversary in 2023, the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO) has organized three Commemorative Events (chronologically Vienna, Bangkok, and New York) and five Global Thematic Webinars generating engagement, cooperation, and action on global issues that constitute the core of ongoing programs of non-governmental and civil society organizations. These sessions have been conceived in the spirit of CoNGO’s commemorative motto, “Defining the Present, Shaping the Future, Making the Change Now.”

B. The Civil Society Summit on Substantive Issues, “Shaping the Future: The UN We Need for the World We Want,” held by CoNGO on 8 October 2021, highlighted global justice among all humanity’s significant global critical concerns. The Summit brought together over 1,000 participants worldwide to contribute experience and competencies, share doubts about our current world, and collectively articulate aspirations and proposals we must achieve for the world we want. The Civil Society Summit was rich in outlining concepts and actions needed to shape the future. As a direct outcome, the CoNGO General Assembly resolved to use the outcome of the Summit—the Synthesis Report—as a substantive basis for CoNGO’s programmatic direction, especially highlighting it in 2023, CoNGO’s 75th-anniversary year. The assembly agreed to convene a series of six high-level global thematic webinars throughout 2023 to engage a global constituency on the critical themes articulated at the Summit and to elaborate on the agenda, responses, and actions necessary to implement the anniversary theme.

C. The first webinar (March 2, 2023) focused on social justice, particularly migration, racial, and health justice. The second webinar (June 5, 2023) focused on pursuing global justice and solidarity, particularly realizing Agenda 2030, sustainable development and humanitarian action. The third webinar (August 31, 2023) focused on gender justice, youth and intra- and intergenerational justice and solidarity for future generations. The fourth webinar (September 7) focused on peace, human security and the threats to the security and sustainability of people and the planet, continuing what previous webinars had explored—engaging CoNGO’s constituency in a deeper dive into the UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s “Our Common Agenda,” including the proposed convening in 2024 of a Summit of the Future, which was projected to offer what was being called the “Pact for the Future.” The webinar also examined the UN SG’s Policy Brief on A New Agenda for Peace. The policy brief included recommendations “to achieve more effective multilateral action for peace and security, based on international law, for a world in transition.” The “A New Agenda for Peace” was framed around the core principles of trust, solidarity, and universality that were the foundations of the UN Charter and a stable world. It presented twelve concrete sets of proposals for action in five priority areas.” The fifth webinar (October 27) focused on cooperation with the United Nations System, built into the purposes and operations of numerous NGOs/CSOs. The UN and NGOs struggle individually and collectively, every day and every year,  to meet the needs, sufferings, and aspirations of people and the planet in a time when global inequities are widening, human rights are under renewed threat, a climate emergency time bomb is ticking, and millions affected by ongoing or new catastrophes are off the public screen. Debt crises, inequalities, wars and conflicts have prevented many governments from providing their citizens with adequate health, education, social protection and other human rights. All these topics are the elements of ongoing UN-NGO interaction,  both in conference halls and in rural and urban settings worldwide. The sixth and final webinar will be focused on human rights, allowing for a double commemoration of the 75th anniversaries of both CoNGO and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

D. The Fourth Anniversary Event and the Sixth Thematic Webinar will be held in Geneva on December 15, 2023, honoring and sharing in the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (December 10 is Human Rights Day). It is also relevant that 2023 is the 75th Anniversary of the World Health Organization, UN Peacekeeping Operations, and the ILO Convention on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize. It is also the 75th Anniversary of the CoNGO Member Organization, the World Council of Churches, based in Geneva, which will host the sessions. The first director of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, Dr. O. Frederick Nolde, is credited for drafting Article 18 of the UDHR, dealing with, among others, freedom of religion. WCC was a founding member of CoNGO in 1948. The World  Federation for Mental Health, a long-serving CoNGO member who will join us on December 15, also celebrates its 75th Anniversary this year.

 

E. It is foreseen that Items 4-7 in Section F below will be based on presentations of the present and desired future of human rights commitments, obligations and aspirations in each sub-thematic area. It will also consider the strides in developing a right to development and the right of future generations and the intersections between human rights and planetary justice in the age of the Anthropocene. Among the categories to be referenced will be women’s rights, older persons’ rights, migrants’ rights, labor/worker’s rights, the actions and safety of human rights defenders and environmental rights defenders,  and lawyers and journalists engaged in protecting and promoting human rights, closing the gaps in the implementation of United Nations Conventions and Covenants; and more. Much like the previous five, the discussions in this last webinar aim to engage the UN 2020 General Assembly Declaration on the commemoration of the UN 75th anniversary and to produce NGO contributions to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s Our Common Agenda, the UN Summit of the Future and related Pact for the Future and the 11 Policy Briefs.

 

F. Programme

See Speaker Bios

SEGMENT I: Moderated by CoNGO President Liberato Bautista

13:30-14:19

1. Introduction and Message by Liberato Bautista (CoNGO President)

2. Welcome and Keynote Address by Jerry Pillay, General Secretary, World Council of Churches (Delivered by Kenneth Mtata, WCC Programme Director for Public Witness and Diakonia)

3. Keynote Addresses from the UN System

a. Director General Tatiana Valovaya (Delivered by Sophie Torelli-Chironi, NGO Liaison Unit, United Nations Office at Geneva) 

b. Written Communication from Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

c. Ibrahim Salama (Chief, Human Rights Treaties Division, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights)

d. Lina Nykanen-Rettaroli (Senior Technical Lead for Human Rights, World Health Organization)

 

SEGMENT II: Moderated by Cyril Ritchie (CoNGO First Vice President)

14:20-15:31

e. Ruth Marlyn Grace Sidabutar (World Summit on the Information Society | International Telecommunication Union) (human rights and ICTs)

f. Barbara Reynolds (Chair, UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent) (human rights and racism)

4. Human Rights, women and gender justice:

a. Jane Aeberhard-Hodges (Former Director, Gender Bureau, ILO) (human rights in the context of the 75th anniversaries of the UDHR and the Freedom of Association as a fundamental human right

b. Carolyn Handschin (Chair, NGO Committee on Status of Women Geneva)      

c. Casey Harden (General Secretary, World YWCA)

5. Human Rights in the Age of the Anthropocene

a. Human Rights and the Right to Development (Shyami Puvimanasinghe, Human Rights Officer, Right to Development Section, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) 

b. Human Rights and Economic and Environmental Justice (Budi Tjahjono, International Advocacy Director, Franciscans International and Geneva Interfaith Forum on Climate Change, Environment and Human Rights) 

 

BREAK FOR 10 MINUTES

15:32-15:42

 

SEGMENT III: Moderated by Manjit Dosanjh (International Cancer Expert Corps, CoNGO Board Member)

15:43-16:45

6. Human Rights and Specific Populations and Concerns

a. Human rights and health (Manjit Dosanjh, International Cancer Expert Corps) 

b. UDHR and Freedom of religion or belief (Ganoune Diop, Seventh-Day Adventist | International Religious Liberty Association) 

c. Migration and human rights of migrants (Torsten Moritz, Churches Commission for Migrants in Europe) 

d. Human rights, minorities and indigenous peoples (Antine Sonde, Associate Human Rights Officer, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) 

e. Human rights, food sovereignty and human security (Manoj Kurian, Coordinator, Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance) 

f. Human Rights and Ethics (Fadi Daou, Globethics.net)  

g. Human rights education and learning (Elisa Gazzotti, Soka Gakkai International) 

h. Intergenerational Justice and Solidarity (Alejandro Bonilla, NGO Committee on Ageing Geneva | Greycells)

 

SEGMENT IV: Moderated by CoNGO President Liberato Bautista

16:46-17:05

7. Navigating the Future

a. Human Rights and the Building of a New Eco-Social World: Navigating Future Directions (Joan Davis-Whelan, Vice President, International Federation of Social Workers) 

b. Towards the UN Summit of the Future (2024): Strengthening the UN System, Reinforcing Human Rights (Jan Lonn, Secretary-General, International Youth and Student Movement for the United Nations) 

8. Concluding remarks by Liberato C. Bautista (CoNGO President) 

 

G. Reception

17:06 to 17:45

A reception at the Ecumenical Center will follow after the programme.

For inquiries, contact:

 

Liberato C. Bautista Cyril  Ritchie

CoNGO President CoNGO First Vice President president@ngocongo.org firstvp@ngocongo.org 

 

13 December 2023 (Version 7.0)

 

First Global Thematic Webinar: Social Justice–Racial Justice, Migration Justice, and Health Justice (A CoNGO 75th Anniversary Event)

SPONSORS

________________________________

GLOBAL THEMATIC WEBINAR
on
SOCIAL JUSTICE:
MIGRATION JUSTICE, RACIAL JUSTICE & HEALTH JUSTICE

(A CoNGO 75TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT)

Thursday | March 2, 2023 | | 9:30 AM to 12:00 PM EST, 15h30 to 18h CET

Time Zone Calculator

REGISTER NOW: bit.ly/register_socialjustice_webinar

________________________________

The Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO) invites you to the first of six global thematic webinars marking its 75th anniversary in 2023 under the overall theme “Defining the present, shaping the future, and making the change, now.” This first webinar in a series of six starts with a focus on Social Justice: migration justice, racial justice, and health justice.

BACKGROUND

Social justice—or the astonishing lack of it for many people and communities worldwide—is one of the fundamental issues of our time. No country, city, or place has achieved the common human expectation of social justice for all its inhabitants.  Social justice can be characterized as including full respect for the human rights of all persons; equality of treatment and opportunity; non-discrimination on any prohibited grounds (including color, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, etc.); universal health care; decent work; minimum basic income; decent living conditions; social protection; access to justice for all; peace and human security for all; and a safe and healthy environment.

The UN General Assembly resolution establishing the World Day for Social Justice stated: “The General Assembly recognizes that social development and social justice are indispensable for the achievement and maintenance of peace and security within and among nations and that, in turn, social development and social justice cannot be attained in the absence of peace and security or the absence of respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

The international system embodied by the United Nations and regional community organizations has elaborated binding conventions and other instruments that set out minimum standards and obligations to realize those standards regarding the abovementioned concerns. International supervisory and review mechanisms have been established to support the national implementation of these standards.

Many civil society organizations advocate for and support achieving social justice at local, national, regional, and global levels—with some level of activity in nearly all countries.

The 8 October 2021 Civil Society Summit on Substantive Issues “Shaping the Future: The UN We Need for the World We Want,” organized by CoNGO, highlighted social justice among the significant global critical concerns of all humanity: Human dignity and human rights; Sustainable development and humanitarian action; Peace and threats to the security of people and the planet; Social justice, including migration, racism, and health; Gender justice, youth, and intergenerational solidarity. That summit further emphasized the importance of UN-NGO relations—enhancing multilateralism, ensuring access, and protecting civic space and discourse….

However, contemporary knowledge and evidence indicate that contrary to universal aspirations and normative standards, levels and extent of injustice, violations of human rights, discrimination, and violence on the grounds of color, perceived race, ethnicity, nationality, and national origin, as well as gender, age, etc.; exclusion; indecent working conditions even forced labour; lack of extension of social protection; absence of access to justice; etc. are manifest to greater or less extent in every country.

The Civil Society Summit on Substantive Issues brought together over 1,000 participants worldwide to contribute experience and competences, share doubts about our current world, and collectively articulate aspirations and proposals for the world we want and must achieve. The Civil Society Summit was rich in outlining concepts and actions needed to shape the future.

As a direct outcome, the CoNGO General Assembly resolved to use the outcome of the Summit—the Synthesis Report—as a substantive basis for CoNGO’s programmatic direction, especially highlighting it in 2023, CoNGO’s 75th anniversary year. It agreed to convene a series of six high-level global thematic webinars over the course of 2023 to highlight and engage the global constituency on the critical themes articulated at the Summit and to elaborate on the agenda, responses, and actions necessary to shape a future of human rights, social justice, non-discrimination, peace, sustainable development, human and environmental security, and gender justice and inter-generational solidarity for all.

 THIS FIRST GLOBAL THEMATIC WEBINAR

The CoNGO Board, meeting in March 2022, agreed to turn the six thematic clusters of the Summit into the six thematic clusters of its programmatic directions for the leadership term 2021-2025.  The subsequent board meeting mandated the coalition to organize global thematic webinars addressing those clusters.

The inaugural webinar focuses on Social Justice, with subthemes on Migration Justice, Racial Justice, and Health Justice. This thematic webinar proceeds along the lines articulated by the UN General Assembly on the World Day of Social Justice and the CoNGO Civil Society Summit iterated above. The webinar will identify what areas of change and action are needed, what should be undertaken now, and by whom.

The Synthesis Report from the 2021 Summit graphically referred to these sub-themes: “Slavery, colonialism, racism, militarism, xenophobia, homophobia, ageism, patriarchy, misogyny… are historic injustices that must be combated, and their intersecting complicities {must} be exposed. We must multiply our efforts at eliminating structural and systemic racism…” and discrimination.

The treatment of migrants and refugees in many situations worldwide represents egregious violations and denial of human rights and rights at work, belying the growing dependence of economies and societies worldwide on the international mobility of people –skills, and labour—for sustainable development and well-being. “We heard migrants assert their voice and agency, saying, ‘For a long time, others spoke on our behalf. Now we speak for ourselves.’ Indeed, migrants and refugees must be at the table when their human rights, needs, and concerns are at stake…

The COVID-19 pandemic and our responses have exacerbated the vast gulfs in achieving the human right to the highest attainable physical and mental health standard for all.  Three years on, the pandemic has yet to be resolved, let alone the preparedness of nations and communities to meet future pandemics. “The COVID-19 situation further illustrates the interests of the few taking precedence over the needs of the many. A cardinal principle should be prioritizing people and the planet over profit.”

 PROVISIONAL PROGRAM

 9:30 AM: Welcome Remarks

 Dr. Liberato Bautista (President of CoNGO)

 Ms. Gillian Sorensen (Co-Chair, CoNGO 75th Anniversary Committee, and Former UN Assistant Secretary-General for External Relations)

 Brig. Gen. Patrick Rea (Co-Chair, CoNGO 75th Anniversary Committee, and International Grandmaster Emeritus of OSMTH)

 

9:50 AM: Keynote Speeches

Ms. Helga Konrad (former Federal Minister for Women’s Affairs of the Republic of Austria and a leading expert on human trafficking)

Ms. Anna Biondi (Deputy Director, Bureau for Workers’ Activities, International Labour Organization – ILO)

10:12 AM: Q & A (Questions must be posted on Zoom Q&A and directed to a specific speaker. Questions that will not be answered will be emailed to the speaker).

 

10:17 AM: Migration Justice (Rapporteur: Ms. Cecilie Kern, Mercy International Association)

 Ms. Eni Lestari (President, International Migrants Alliance, and Indonesian domestic worker in Hong Kong )

 Mr. Patrick Taran (President, Global Migration Policy Associates)

10:36 AM: Q & A (Questions must be posted on Zoom Q&A and directed to a specific speaker. Questions that will not be answered will be emailed to the speaker).

 

10:41AM Racial Justice (Rapporteur: Ms. Dorothy Davis, Congressional Black Caucus Institute)

Ms. Catherine S. Namakula (Chair, United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent)

Dr. Edna Maria Santos Roland (Chair, United Nations Group of Independent Eminent Experts on the Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Plan of Action)

11:00 AM: Q & A (Questions must be posted on Zoom Q&A and directed to a specific speaker. Questions that will not be answered will be emailed to the speaker). 

 

11:06 AM: Health Justice (Rapporteur: Dr. Gill Adynski, International Council of Nurses)

 Prof. Dr. Marianne Legato (Founder, Gender-specific Medicine, Professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons)

 Dr. Pamela Cipriano (President, International Council of Nurses)

11:25 AM: Q & A (Questions must be posted on Zoom Q&A and directed to a specific speaker. Questions that will not be answered will be emailed to the speaker).

11:31 AM: Special feature: Celebration of Dr. Franklin Shaffer, Former CEO of CGFNS International and CoNGO Board Secretary

11:30    Dr. Liberato Bautista (CoNGO President)

11:33   Dr. Holly Shaw (International Council of Nurses, Chair of NGO Committee on Mental Health, and NGO Committee on Education, Learning, and Literacy)

11:38   Mukul Bakhshi, Esq. (Chief of Strategy and Government Affairs CGFNS International, Inc.)

11:44   Response: Dr. Franklin Shaffer

11:50 AM Report by Webinar Lead Rapporteur

Mr. Cyril Ritchie (CoNGO First Vice President)

11:57 PM Closing Remarks

Dr. Liberato Bautista (President of CoNGO)

 Webinar Co-sponsors

Congressional Black Caucus Institute, General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church, Global Migration Policy Associates, International Council of Nurses, NGO Committee on Migration, National Council of Negro Women, Pan Pacific South East Asia Women’s Association, STUF United Fund, Thadhani Foundation

BACKGROUND RESOURCES

   Social Justice

  1. ILO: A Global Coalition for Social Justice. https://www.ilo.org/gb/GBSessions/GB346/ins/WCMS_858521/lang–en/index.htm?msdynttrid=0BYLeiS-wduhwzUlSNJ-9-d0cWAB4UJQxkz4Es1KHAY
  2. UN World Day for Social Justice: 2023 Theme: Overcoming Barriers and Unleashing Opportunities for Social Justice. https://www.un.org/en/observances/social-justice-day.
  3. Co-building an Ecosocial World. Liberato C. Bautista. http://ngocongo.org/global-peoples-summit-on-co-building-an-eco-social-world-leaving-no-one-behind-30-june-2022-online

 Migration

  1. Migration, Human Rights & Sustainable Economies: A Century 21 Agenda. Patrick A. Taran, in Revista Tecnológica – Espol, 34(1), Guayaquil, Ecuador 2022.http://www.rte.espol.edu.ec/index.php/tecnologica/article/view/917
  2. COVID-19, Migrants, Refugees, Mobile Workers: Global Assessment and Action Agenda. Patrick A Taran & Olga Kadysheva (2022). Revista Tecnológica – Espol, 34(1), Guayaquil http://www.rte.espol.edu.ec/index.php/tecnologica/article/view/889
  3. Talking and Doing Points: Churches Witnessing With Migrants. https://refugeesmigrants.un.org/sites/default/files/cwwm-ts5.pdf

Racism and Racial Discrimination

  1. Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance: Ecological Crisis, Climate Justice and Racial Justice. E. Tendayi Achiume. UN document A/77/549.
  2. Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent to the Human Rights Council: The Human rights situation of people of African descent remains an urgent concern. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/10/working-group-experts-people-african-descent-human-rights-council-human
  3. Migrant workers and discrimination: realities, threats, and remedies. August Gachter (2022) in Revista Tecnológica – Espol, 34(1), Guayaquil, Ecuador. http://www.rte.espol.edu.ec/index.php/tecnologica/article/view/907
  4. International Standards Against Racism and All Forms of Racial Discrimination. https://previous.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Racism/IntergovWG/Pages/InternationalStandards.aspx

Health Justice

11. WHO: Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health.           https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241563703

  1. Civil society organizations calling for vaccine access and equity for all. https://panafrica.oxfam.org/latest/press-release/civil-society-organisations-calling-vaccine-access-and-equity-all
  2. The Social Determinants of Health. https://www.who.int/teams/social-determinants-of-health

CoNGO Resources

  1. CoNGO Civil Society Summit on Substantive Issues. http://ngocongo.org/27th-general-assembly/pre-assembly-civil-society-summit-on-substantive-issues
  2. Synthesis Report of the CoNGO Civil Society Summit on Substantive Issues. http://ngocongo.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Synthesis_Report_Civil_Society_Summit_2021.Final_.pdf
  3. CoNGO Declaration on the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations. http://ngocongo.org/declaration-of-the-conference-of-non-governmental-organizations-in-consultative-relationship-with-the-united-nations-congo-on-the-occasion-of-the-75th-anniversary-of-the-united-nations

 

First Global Thematic Webinar: Social Justice–Racial Justice, Migration Justice, and Health Justice (A CoNGO 75th Anniversary Event)

SPONSORS

________________________________

GLOBAL THEMATIC WEBINAR
on
SOCIAL JUSTICE:
MIGRATION JUSTICE, RACIAL JUSTICE & HEALTH JUSTICE

(A CoNGO 75TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT)

Thursday | March 2, 2023 | | 9:30 AM to 12:00 PM EST, 15h30 to 18h CET

Time Zone Calculator

REGISTER NOW: bit.ly/register_socialjustice_webinar

________________________________

The Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO) invites you to the first of six global thematic webinars marking its 75th anniversary in 2023 under the overall theme “Defining the present, shaping the future, and making the change, now.” This first webinar in a series of six starts with a focus on Social Justice: migration justice, racial justice, and health justice.

BACKGROUND

Social justice—or the astonishing lack of it for many people and communities worldwide—is one of the fundamental issues of our time. No country, city, or place has achieved the common human expectation of social justice for all its inhabitants.  Social justice can be characterized as including full respect for the human rights of all persons; equality of treatment and opportunity; non-discrimination on any prohibited grounds (including color, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, etc.); universal health care; decent work; minimum basic income; decent living conditions; social protection; access to justice for all; peace and human security for all; and a safe and healthy environment.

The UN General Assembly resolution establishing the World Day for Social Justice stated: “The General Assembly recognizes that social development and social justice are indispensable for the achievement and maintenance of peace and security within and among nations and that, in turn, social development and social justice cannot be attained in the absence of peace and security or the absence of respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

The international system embodied by the United Nations and regional community organizations has elaborated binding conventions and other instruments that set out minimum standards and obligations to realize those standards regarding the abovementioned concerns. International supervisory and review mechanisms have been established to support the national implementation of these standards.

Many civil society organizations advocate for and support achieving social justice at local, national, regional, and global levels—with some level of activity in nearly all countries.

The 8 October 2021 Civil Society Summit on Substantive Issues “Shaping the Future: The UN We Need for the World We Want,” organized by CoNGO, highlighted social justice among the significant global critical concerns of all humanity: Human dignity and human rights; Sustainable development and humanitarian action; Peace and threats to the security of people and the planet; Social justice, including migration, racism, and health; Gender justice, youth, and intergenerational solidarity. That summit further emphasized the importance of UN-NGO relations—enhancing multilateralism, ensuring access, and protecting civic space and discourse….

However, contemporary knowledge and evidence indicate that contrary to universal aspirations and normative standards, levels and extent of injustice, violations of human rights, discrimination, and violence on the grounds of color, perceived race, ethnicity, nationality, and national origin, as well as gender, age, etc.; exclusion; indecent working conditions even forced labour; lack of extension of social protection; absence of access to justice; etc. are manifest to greater or less extent in every country.

The Civil Society Summit on Substantive Issues brought together over 1,000 participants worldwide to contribute experience and competences, share doubts about our current world, and collectively articulate aspirations and proposals for the world we want and must achieve. The Civil Society Summit was rich in outlining concepts and actions needed to shape the future.

As a direct outcome, the CoNGO General Assembly resolved to use the outcome of the Summit—the Synthesis Report—as a substantive basis for CoNGO’s programmatic direction, especially highlighting it in 2023, CoNGO’s 75th anniversary year. It agreed to convene a series of six high-level global thematic webinars over the course of 2023 to highlight and engage the global constituency on the critical themes articulated at the Summit and to elaborate on the agenda, responses, and actions necessary to shape a future of human rights, social justice, non-discrimination, peace, sustainable development, human and environmental security, and gender justice and inter-generational solidarity for all.

 THIS FIRST GLOBAL THEMATIC WEBINAR

The CoNGO Board, meeting in March 2022, agreed to turn the six thematic clusters of the Summit into the six thematic clusters of its programmatic directions for the leadership term 2021-2025.  The subsequent board meeting mandated the coalition to organize global thematic webinars addressing those clusters.

The inaugural webinar focuses on Social Justice, with subthemes on Migration Justice, Racial Justice, and Health Justice. This thematic webinar proceeds along the lines articulated by the UN General Assembly on the World Day of Social Justice and the CoNGO Civil Society Summit iterated above. The webinar will identify what areas of change and action are needed, what should be undertaken now, and by whom.

The Synthesis Report from the 2021 Summit graphically referred to these sub-themes: “Slavery, colonialism, racism, militarism, xenophobia, homophobia, ageism, patriarchy, misogyny… are historic injustices that must be combated, and their intersecting complicities {must} be exposed. We must multiply our efforts at eliminating structural and systemic racism…” and discrimination.

The treatment of migrants and refugees in many situations worldwide represents egregious violations and denial of human rights and rights at work, belying the growing dependence of economies and societies worldwide on the international mobility of people –skills, and labour—for sustainable development and well-being. “We heard migrants assert their voice and agency, saying, ‘For a long time, others spoke on our behalf. Now we speak for ourselves.’ Indeed, migrants and refugees must be at the table when their human rights, needs, and concerns are at stake…

The COVID-19 pandemic and our responses have exacerbated the vast gulfs in achieving the human right to the highest attainable physical and mental health standard for all.  Three years on, the pandemic has yet to be resolved, let alone the preparedness of nations and communities to meet future pandemics. “The COVID-19 situation further illustrates the interests of the few taking precedence over the needs of the many. A cardinal principle should be prioritizing people and the planet over profit.”

 PROVISIONAL PROGRAM

 9:30 AM: Welcome Remarks

 Dr. Liberato Bautista (President of CoNGO)

 Ms. Gillian Sorensen (Co-Chair, CoNGO 75th Anniversary Committee, and Former UN Assistant Secretary-General for External Relations)

 Brig. Gen. Patrick Rea (Co-Chair, CoNGO 75th Anniversary Committee, and International Grandmaster Emeritus of OSMTH)

 

9:50 AM: Keynote Speeches

Ms. Helga Konrad (former Federal Minister for Women’s Affairs of the Republic of Austria and a leading expert on human trafficking)

Ms. Anna Biondi (Deputy Director, Bureau for Workers’ Activities, International Labour Organization – ILO)

10:12 AM: Q & A (Questions must be posted on Zoom Q&A and directed to a specific speaker. Questions that will not be answered will be emailed to the speaker).

 

10:17 AM: Migration Justice (Rapporteur: Ms. Cecilie Kern, Mercy International Association)

 Ms. Eni Lestari (President, International Migrants Alliance, and Indonesian domestic worker in Hong Kong )

 Mr. Patrick Taran (President, Global Migration Policy Associates)

10:36 AM: Q & A (Questions must be posted on Zoom Q&A and directed to a specific speaker. Questions that will not be answered will be emailed to the speaker).

 

10:41AM Racial Justice (Rapporteur: Ms. Dorothy Davis, Congressional Black Caucus Institute)

Ms. Catherine S. Namakula (Chair, United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent)

Dr. Edna Maria Santos Roland (Chair, United Nations Group of Independent Eminent Experts on the Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Plan of Action)

11:00 AM: Q & A (Questions must be posted on Zoom Q&A and directed to a specific speaker. Questions that will not be answered will be emailed to the speaker). 

 

11:06 AM: Health Justice (Rapporteur: Dr. Gill Adynski, International Council of Nurses)

 Prof. Dr. Marianne Legato (Founder, Gender-specific Medicine, Professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons)

 Dr. Pamela Cipriano (President, International Council of Nurses)

11:25 AM: Q & A (Questions must be posted on Zoom Q&A and directed to a specific speaker. Questions that will not be answered will be emailed to the speaker).

11:31 AM: Special feature: Celebration of Dr. Franklin Shaffer, Former CEO of CGFNS International and CoNGO Board Secretary

11:30    Dr. Liberato Bautista (CoNGO President)

11:33   Dr. Holly Shaw (International Council of Nurses, Chair of NGO Committee on Mental Health, and NGO Committee on Education, Learning, and Literacy)

11:38   Mukul Bakhshi, Esq. (Chief of Strategy and Government Affairs CGFNS International, Inc.)

11:44   Response: Dr. Franklin Shaffer

11:50 AM Report by Webinar Lead Rapporteur

Mr. Cyril Ritchie (CoNGO First Vice President)

11:57 PM Closing Remarks

Dr. Liberato Bautista (President of CoNGO)

 Webinar Co-sponsors

Congressional Black Caucus Institute, General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church, Global Migration Policy Associates, International Council of Nurses, NGO Committee on Migration, National Council of Negro Women, Pan Pacific South East Asia Women’s Association, STUF United Fund, Thadhani Foundation

BACKGROUND RESOURCES

   Social Justice

  1. ILO: A Global Coalition for Social Justice. https://www.ilo.org/gb/GBSessions/GB346/ins/WCMS_858521/lang–en/index.htm?msdynttrid=0BYLeiS-wduhwzUlSNJ-9-d0cWAB4UJQxkz4Es1KHAY
  2. UN World Day for Social Justice: 2023 Theme: Overcoming Barriers and Unleashing Opportunities for Social Justice. https://www.un.org/en/observances/social-justice-day.
  3. Co-building an Ecosocial World. Liberato C. Bautista. http://ngocongo.org/global-peoples-summit-on-co-building-an-eco-social-world-leaving-no-one-behind-30-june-2022-online

 Migration

  1. Migration, Human Rights & Sustainable Economies: A Century 21 Agenda. Patrick A. Taran, in Revista Tecnológica – Espol, 34(1), Guayaquil, Ecuador 2022.http://www.rte.espol.edu.ec/index.php/tecnologica/article/view/917
  2. COVID-19, Migrants, Refugees, Mobile Workers: Global Assessment and Action Agenda. Patrick A Taran & Olga Kadysheva (2022). Revista Tecnológica – Espol, 34(1), Guayaquil http://www.rte.espol.edu.ec/index.php/tecnologica/article/view/889
  3. Talking and Doing Points: Churches Witnessing With Migrants. https://refugeesmigrants.un.org/sites/default/files/cwwm-ts5.pdf

Racism and Racial Discrimination

  1. Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance: Ecological Crisis, Climate Justice and Racial Justice. E. Tendayi Achiume. UN document A/77/549.
  2. Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent to the Human Rights Council: The Human rights situation of people of African descent remains an urgent concern. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/10/working-group-experts-people-african-descent-human-rights-council-human
  3. Migrant workers and discrimination: realities, threats, and remedies. August Gachter (2022) in Revista Tecnológica – Espol, 34(1), Guayaquil, Ecuador. http://www.rte.espol.edu.ec/index.php/tecnologica/article/view/907
  4. International Standards Against Racism and All Forms of Racial Discrimination. https://previous.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Racism/IntergovWG/Pages/InternationalStandards.aspx

Health Justice

11. WHO: Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health.           https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241563703

  1. Civil society organizations calling for vaccine access and equity for all. https://panafrica.oxfam.org/latest/press-release/civil-society-organisations-calling-vaccine-access-and-equity-all
  2. The Social Determinants of Health. https://www.who.int/teams/social-determinants-of-health

CoNGO Resources

  1. CoNGO Civil Society Summit on Substantive Issues. http://ngocongo.org/27th-general-assembly/pre-assembly-civil-society-summit-on-substantive-issues
  2. Synthesis Report of the CoNGO Civil Society Summit on Substantive Issues. http://ngocongo.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Synthesis_Report_Civil_Society_Summit_2021.Final_.pdf
  3. CoNGO Declaration on the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations. http://ngocongo.org/declaration-of-the-conference-of-non-governmental-organizations-in-consultative-relationship-with-the-united-nations-congo-on-the-occasion-of-the-75th-anniversary-of-the-united-nations