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The monthly newsletter detailing Non-Governmental Organization events at the UN |
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In This Issue · Update: 2010 DPI NGO Conference · Justice and Peace Commission Agenda · Featured Briefing: Trafficking · Trafficking Resources · 2010 Calendar · More Augustinian.org United Nations World Food Program UN refugee agency Central Emergency Response Fund, sponsored by United Nations Haiti Relief and Development Re-building in Haiti
Jack Deegan This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Brian Roe This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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Welcome!In the interest of making the activities of the Order's team at the United Nations more known, we have begun an online newsletter. We hope that it will be helpful to you and result in more interest and participation in the United Nations and local NGOs sponsored by the Augustinians. We intend to bring you information from the weekly briefings on a number of critical issues being discussed by the leaders at the United Nations as well as pointing out resources and links that may help you in your ministry to the poor and needy of the world. We also would like to hear from you as you confront the issues of hunger, poverty, human rights and the progress being made on the Millennium Development Goals. We would like to be able to help you where and with what we can. Thank you for your interest and support.
John Deegan, O.S.A. Update: 63rd Annual DPI-NGO Conference
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As previously announced, the 63rd Annual DPI/NGO Conference will be held in Melbourne, Australia from September 1-3, 2010. The general theme of the conference will be global health as it relates to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
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On February 25, DPI-NGO held a town hall meeting to discuss the planning process of this year's conference. Fr. Jack Deegan has been in contact with the Australian Augustinians to consider a place for the Augustinian course to be held in conjunction with the DPI-NGO conference. The conference's convener, Dr. Phil Batterham of the University of Melbourne, flew in to attend the meeting. He expressed the excitement of the entire Australian NGO community for the opportunity to host the event. He fielded questions from various NGO representatives about how the topic of global health will be discussed. The Conference will be chaired by Dr. Mary E. Norton, Associate Dean and Professor, Global Academic Initiatives at Felician College in Lodi, NJ. More information will be released shortly by the Department of Public Information and provided in future newsletters. Justice and Peace Commission to Meet in Rome The Justice and Peace Commission for the Order will meet in Rome on March 10-11. The agenda will include a discussion of the steps to be taken for achieving ECOSOC status, and an updating of the NGO by-laws and statutes. As announced in our previous newsletter, the Augustinian NGO will seek to achieve ECOSOC status in the coming year. A full listing of the necessary components to apply for ECOSOC status can be found here. Additionally, the Commission will begin the planning process for the Augustinian course, held annually in conjunction with the annual DPI/NGO Conference. The conference will discuss the potential role of the Augustinian NGO, as well as our partner NGO's, in the global health discussion. DPI/NGO Communications Workshop: Haiti On February 24, DPI-NGO invited the NGO community to gather for the year's first communications workshop. Typically, DPI periodically conducts these workshops as an opportunity for NGO's to get together and discuss their modes of communication both within their NGO and among the greater NGO community. The workshops provide an opportunity for NGO's to collaborate about the best possible ways to disseminate information. The recent devastating earthquake in Haiti provided the NGO community with an opportunity for DPI-NGO to discuss communication and mobilization efforts in the context of an issue that is both current and pressing. The earthquake in Haiti was a disaster of epic proportions for Haiti, the United Nations community, and, indeed, humanity as a whole. The quake destroyed the United Nations headquarters building, making it the single deadliest incident in UN peacekeeping history. On a greater scale, the quake affected over 3 million people in Haiti, including 222,000 confirmed dead, 300,000 wounded, and over 600,000 displaced. The workshop included a presentation by Jean-Wesley Cazeau, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Mission of Haiti to the UN, who described the current situation in Port-au-Prince as he sees it. Mr. Cazeau said that he has received an outpouring of support from the international NGO community and has continually been asked how one might be able to help. He wanted to stress that the mission of Haiti is open and receptive to outside help, especially in terms of rebuilding the country's infrastructure. Patrick McCormick, Senior Emergencies Communications Specialist for UNICEF, was a little more poignant with what UNICEF sees as the start to a remedy in Haiti. Haiti has seen its already ailing infrastructure further devastated by the earthquake. In the face of disaster, the usual relief mantra is "build back better". Mr. McCormick pointed out rightfully that the case of Haiti is actually very much a case of "build". The next few months are a big opportunity for Haiti, which will never again have so much attention, human resources, and global goodwill directed at it for such a sustained period. The important thing is having the right leadership. We don't need so many voices--we just need some who have a clear vision of how to go ahead, so that Haiti has the chance to build itself into something decent and sustainable. Nicholas Reader, Deputy Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, was very complimentary about what the world has accomplished in the wake of this terrible disaster. These efforts have been possible because people and organizations have worked together in ways that were unimaginable a few years ago. In the coming months, Haiti will desperately need improvement in shelter, camp management, and sanitation, especially with the rainy season looming. Failures in these areas will undo progress in other sectors. It is essential for the global community to learn lessons from this experience so that they can be applied to future incidents. The workshop also included a discussion on how modern communications methods (including internet news media, blogs, Facebook, and Twitter) have become increasingly effective as ways to spread information and increase awareness. Prevention, Prosecution, and Protection:
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The monthly newsletter detailing Non-Governmental Organization events at the UN |
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In This Issue · Update: 2010 DPI NGO Conference · Justice and Peace Commission to Meet in Rome · Featured Briefing · 2010 Calendar · More Augustinian.org United Nations World Food Program UN refugee agency Central Emergency Response Fund, sponsored by United Nations Haiti Relief and Development Re-building in Haiti
Jack Deegan This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Brian Roe This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it |
WelcomeHappy New Year!In the interest of making the activities of the Order's team at the United Nations more known, we have begun an online newsletter. We hope that it will be helpful to you and result in more interest and participation in the United Nations and local NGOs sponsored by the Augustinians. We intend to bring you information from the weekly briefings on a number of critical issues being discussed by the leaders at the United Nations as well as pointing out resources and links that may help you in your ministry to the poor and needy of the world. We also would like to hear from you as you confront the issues of hunger, poverty, human rights and the progress being made on the Millennium Development Goals. We would like to be able to help you where and with what we can. Thank you for your interest and support.
John Deegan, O.S.A. Update: 63rd Annual DPI-NGO Conference
The Conference will be chaired by Dr. Mary E. Norton, Associate Dean and Professor, Global Academic Initiatives at Felician College in Lodi, NJ. More information will be released shortly by the Department of Public Information and provided in future newsletters. Fr. Jack Deegan has been in contact with the Australian Augustinians to consider a place for the Augustinian course to be held in conjunction with the DPI-NGO conference. Justice and Peace Commission to Meet in RomeThe Justice and Peace Commission for the Order will meet in Rome on March 10-11. The agenda will include a discussion of the steps to be taken for achieving ECOSOC status, and an updating of the NGO by-laws and statutes. As announced in our previous newsletter, the Augustinian NGO will seek to achieve ECOSOC status in the coming year. A full listing of the necessary components to apply for ECOSOC status can be found here. Featured UN Briefing: The Moroccan Jews and Their Legacy of Survival
The briefing contained a discussion of the peaceful history of Jews in Morocco amidst a world that was often violent and aggressive toward them. During World War II, thousands of European Jews poured across Morocco's borders, where Muslim King Mohammed V provided for them a safe haven, resisting the anti-Semitic policies of Nazi Germany and the Vichy-regime. One of the major themes of this briefing was that the widely unknown story of Jews in Morocco--their safety and peaceful coexistence under a Muslim king--is a lesson that should be taught and even emphasized when studying the Holocaust. Teaching this example of mutual peace and coexistence could serve as a burning torch for nations throughout the world with religious turmoil. A summary of this briefing will be mailed out separately, but I wanted to include a small story I feel illustrates the sentiment of the morning's briefing. In attendance at the briefing was a Jewish-American scholar who had lived and studied in Morocco for a short period in hopes of learning some of the personal stories of the Jews that lived there. He traveled to a Berber village in northeast Morocco, a small village no longer inhabited by any Jews (after the creation of Israel, many Jews left Morocco). The man entered a gathering place in the center of the village and asked if anyone knew the story of the Jews there. They said they could not help him, but directed him to find an elderly man named Hareem, whom they said could answer his questions. The man began to walk down the main street when he came upon an older man with a staff and beard. After he introduced himself, he told Hareem that he was a Jewish man looking to learn about the history of Jews in this village. At that, Hareem smiled, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a wooden key. He said, "I have been waiting for you for 45 years!" When the rabbi of this Berber village left almost a half century ago, he entrusted the key to the synagogue to Hareem, and told him to give it to the Jews when they return. Spring 2010 BriefingsThe 2010 spring DPI-NGO briefing season officially commenced on January 14 with a screening of a new film entitled "The End of Poverty?". Upcoming briefings are listed below, and the entire listing of this winter/spring's briefings can be found here:
Periodic summaries of these briefings will once again be sent out beginning with this week's briefing. If did not receive these summaries in 2009 and would like to be added to the mailing list, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Upcoming 2010 Briefings: --- 28 January - The Moroccan Jews and Their Legacy of Survival --- 4 February- Why the Numbers Continue to Rise: Cancer Today --- 11 February - The Prevention, Prosecution, and Protection of the Trafficking of Women and Girls --- 18 February - Promoting Global Tolerance and Harmonious Communication through Multilingualism --- 25 February - Communications Workshop
*** Thursday briefings can normally be seen LIVE via UN webcast, which can be seen here: http://www.un.org/webcast/
*** It should also be noted that all briefings can be heard IN THEIR ENTIRETY by visiting the audio library section of the UN website, located here: http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/library/. Briefings take place on Thursdays.
Please Keep UN Haiti Staff in PrayersAs of January 28, 85 UN staff working in Haiti have been confirmed dead, and there are at least 50 more still missing. The devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on January 10, 2010 is believed to have killed 150,000 in the capital city of Port-au-Prince alone. Please keep all of our departed brothers and sisters as well as their families in your prayers. There is a lot of terrific work being done on behalf of Haitian relief. Links to a few of these efforts have been included in the left column of this newsletter. Please encourage your colleagues to donate to whichever appeals most to them, so that we may continue the outpouring of love and generosity that we’ve had for the past three weeks. Augustinian Schools to Learn about UN, NGO’sIn the coming weeks and months, several area Augustinian schools will be visiting the United Nations to learn about the organization, the role of NGO’s, and the role of the Augustinian NGO. From March 1-7 and March 8-15, respectively, Villanova University and Merrimack College will send groups of students to New York as part of their spring break service programs. The groups will be serving at the worksites of the Augustinian Volunteers in the Bronx: Siena House, a women’s shelter; St. Nicholas of Tolentine School; and St. Rita’s Center for Immigrant Services. In addition, they will be learning about the United Nations, and some will attend the Thursday NGO briefings. Additionally, a group from St. Augustine Prep in Richland, NJ will be coming to the United Nations in February for a tour and to learn about the Augustinian NGO. The Merrimack College Model UN group has expressed interest in a similar type of experience. All of these institutions have the study of the UN and NGO’s as part of their curriculum, and we are excited to have them coming to learn about our NGO’s mission!
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