-October 4th 1965 Pope Paul VI to Catholic, Protastant and Jewish NGOs at Holy Family Church in New York-

Transcription

1 The Role of Catholic NGOs at the United Nations Kevin Ahern, International President of the International Movement of Catholic Students (IMCS-Pax Romana) We make our own The voice of the poor the disinherited the suffering of those who long for justice for dignity of life for freedom for well being and for progress The peoples of the Earth turn to the United Nations as the Last Hope for Peace -October 4th 1965 Pope Paul VI to Catholic, Protastant and Jewish NGOs at Holy Family Church in New York- Introduction 2005 will mark the fortieth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council s ground breaking document Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. In Gaudium et Spes, the Council strongly affirms the importance of the United Nations and other bodies that bring together the community of nations for peace and development. In the same section, the Council also speaks to the important role of International Catholic Organizations or ICOs i in helping to promote the same visions of peace, justice and solidarity as it writes: Different Catholic international bodies can assist the community of nations on the way to peace, sisterhood and brotherhood; Organizations of this kind, moreover, contribute more than a little to the instilling of a feeling of universality, which is certainly appropriate for Catholics, and to the formation of truly worldwide solidarity and responsibility. ii In this quote the Council was affirming the important role of the international Catholic lay organizations, many of which held consultative status with the UN. The Growth of Catholic NGOs At the time of the Council about two dozen Catholic lay organizations had Consultative status with the UN. In fact, Catholic lay organizations were among the first NGOs to be granted the ECOSOC status.

2 The first Catholic NGO (CNGO) to be granted ECOSOC status was the World Union of Catholic Women s Origination or WUCWO in the first class of NGOs in Pax Romana (ICMICA IMCS) iii followed shortly in 1949 and the International Catholic Union of the Press in It is interesting to note that both WUCWO and Pax Romana enjoyed a form of consultative status with the League of Nations. From the late 1940s to the 1980s, the growth of CNGOs followed the slow and stable growth of ECOSOC NGOs as a whole. In the 1990s, however, due to a change in the ECOSOC NGO requirements and the various high level UN conferences that took place, the number of NGOs accredited to the UN grew exponentially. A similar trend occurred among CNGOs. In 1994 there were eighteen Catholic ECOSCO NGOs. By 1999 the number had grown to thirty-four. This was in large part due to the growth of Catholic religious orders receiving ECOSCO status. In 1994, only one Catholic religious order, International Federation of the Little Brothers of the Poor (accredited in 1983), held NGO status, with the rest being Lay organizations. By 1999 the number of religious orders with ECOSCO status had grown to seven. iv The Present Reality Presently, out of the 2418 ECOSOC NGOs, fifty-one are Catholic. Twenty-six of them are recognized Catholic lay movements (ICOs) and thirteen are religious congregations/orders. Out of the fifty-one, thirty-eight hold Special ECOSOC Status, twelve have Roster Status, and three, Caritas Internationalis, the Congregations of St. Joseph, and Franciscans International hold General Status. v The accreditations of these religious congregations/orders have added new dimensions to NGO work at the UN. Unlike the ICOs, many of these communities (even ones without ECOSOC status) are able to employ full time representatives in New York. These dimensions, however, need to be evaluated as to avoid the impression of a Catholic NGO block. Often these religious orders are the majority of the NGOs involved in various events and meetings at the UN in New York. For example, the CONGO NGO Committee on Social Development and its Subcommittee on Poverty Eradication are almost completely made up of Catholic religious orders. This situation needs a deeper theological reflection to find the best ways for CNGOs to be effective in promoting the Good News within the context of the UN. Care should be taken to find a way that would help promote a community among the Catholic NGOs on the one hand, while retaining the different various priorities and experiences of the autonomous Catholic NGOs on the other. Efforts should also be made to find ways to utilize the resources of the religious orders and the large global membership of many of the ICOs.

3 Division Among the CNGOs? One of the challenges facing CNGOs is a (perceived?) division among the CNGOs. For some, the Catholic religious orders and ICOs are not devoting enough attention to abortion and contraception issues, while for others, the strictly anti abortion NGOs are not devoting enough time to other pro-life issues such as poverty eradication, development, and peace. Many of the ICOs and Catholic religious orders are also turned off by the strongly negative criticisms of the UN by some Catholic organizations. There is also strong criticism of the pro-abortion ECOSOC NGO Catholics for a Free Choice, which often campaigns for the removal of the Permanent Observer Mission status of the Holy See (Vatican). One of the challenges for all CNGOs who are inspired by Catholics Social Teaching is the integration all life issues in into the seamless garment as coined by the late Cardinal Bernardin. Pope John Paul II reminds us of this when he frequently points out the dignity of all human life from conception to natural death. This should be the garment that CNGOs wear with their UN badges. ICO Centers Since the foundation of the UN, CNGOs (especially ICOs) have benefited greatly from the community and resources provided by the three ICO Centers in New York, Geneva, and Paris. These Centers help the CNGOs (especially the ICOs) in their work at the UN. These Centers also work in conjunction with each other as part of the Conference of ICOs. Because the number of Catholic religious orders in New York has grown in recent years, the mandate of the ICO Center in NY has also grown to include them. These Centers provide invaluable resources and places of community for the CNGOs that work at the UN. The Two Way Street In our ministry with the United Nations, Pax Romana believes that NGO work must be seen as a two way street something Pope John Paul II touched upon in 1980 when addressing ICOs at UNESCO. All too often we see NGOs who devote their resources to the consultative/advocacy lane and neglect the public information lane. It is for this reason, that Pax Romana is also an accredited NGO with the Department of Public Information. In our vision of advocacy, we believe that it is important to be present in UN events especially the ECOSOC Commissions and the major UN sponsored conferences. In these meetings we work raise the attention of the UN and member states to issues of importance to our members around the world. We also believe that as an accredited NGO we have the responsibility to raise awareness of global issues at the grassroots and work for the formation of leaders who are able to advocate and organize at the local, national, and international levels.

4 We recognize that the UN is an intergovernmental body and that to change the policy of the diplomats, we must raise grassroots attention. We believe that there are four main components of UN representation: I. Awareness Building This is done through Regional and Thematic Workshops (at and leading up to major UN Conferences including most recently, the World Conference Against Racism in 2001, the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, and the International Conference on Finance for Development in vi We also raise awareness through publications (both print and web based) to our members around the world. We have found an e-newsletter to be helpful in this component. II. III. IV. Capacity Building Pax Romana does this through Human Rights Internship Programs in Geneva, Lay Leadership in Advocacy programs in different regions, and Study Sessions on Peace and Development at the UN in NY. Network Building Pax Romana does this by working within networks such as the Conference of ICOs, the Conference of NGOs, or CONGO, and the CONGO Committees in NY, Geneva, and Vienna. Pax Romana presently serves as Vice President of the CONGO Board and has played a key role in the NGO Committee on Youth in New York. We also have actively participated in the networks of the World Social Forum, the Earth Charter and UBUNTU. Advocacy Action Pax Romana does this takingactive roles in presenting oral and written statements at UN Commissions and meetings. We pay special attention to the Commissions on Social and Sustainable Development in New York, (Recent statement at CSD) the Commission and Sub Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, the UNESCO General Conference in Paris, and the Commission on Criminal Justice and Crime Prevention in Vienna. We presently have three main programs that try to address these four components: Human Rights Formation Internships Each year we organize two Human Rights Formation Internships in relation to the UN Commission and Sub Commission on Human Rights. These programs serve as a training of trainers based in Catholic Social Teaching. As we meet here, Pax Romana is organizing its fifth annual Human Rights Internship program in connection with the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. Since 1999, more than sixty human rights defenders, students, and intellectuals from around the

5 world have participated in this seven week program which is designed to raise awareness of human rights issues based in Catholic Social Teaching and develop capacity building to address them. We have a similar program at the Sub-Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights which is held each year in August. The key elements to both these programs are: learning about the mechanisms and procedures of UN human rights bodies, particularly the UN Commission on Human Rights and the Sub-Commission on Human Rights, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, learning about the connections between Catholic Social Teaching and Human Rights, preparation of and presentation of oral statements to the Commission, training in effective lobbying, seminars on country and thematic human rights issues, visits to International Organizations in Geneva such as WTO, ILO, UNHCR, etc., visits to the World Council of Churches and to other religious organizations, and Learning about the role of Holy See at the International Organizations. Study Sessions Our third program is a Study Session which occurs here in NY. Two weeks ago, Pax Romana organized the second annual Study Session on Peace and Development. This year, the theme of the Session was The Millennium Development Goals and Catholic Social Teaching. Over twenty-five students from around North America attended this event where they met with various UN officials, Catholic NGOs, and representatives from the Holy See Mission. The participants are in the process of finalizing a statement based on those reflections that will serve as the base of an international campaign to raise attention to the MDGs. As part of the event, Pax Romana developed resource materials that directly link each of the MDGs to Catholic Social Teaching documents. Integration of the UN into our Work Pax Romana believes that it is important to promote the UN by integrating it into our events and programs. For example, when in 2003, IMCS Pax Romana organized its International Committee; we invited the ambassador of Indonesia to UNESCO to speak on the theme of Integral Education. In 2002, when IMCS Pan Africa organized the Pan African Assembly on the theme: African Youth Challenged By HIV/Aids: Stigma, NO! Solidarity, YES! Two high UNAIDS officials traveled from Geneva to Togo for the event. And this summer Pax Romana ICMICA will have at its Plenary Assembly in Warsaw, Cardinal Martino, the former Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN in New

6 York, Mary Robison, former High Commissioner for Human Rights and officials from UNESCO. Conclusion For over eighty years, Pax Romana has believed in the importance of partnering with inter-governmental organizations. In Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, Pope John Paul II speaks on the importance of building greater global solidarity: the solidarity which we propose is the path to peace and at the same time to development. For world peace is inconceivable unless the world s leaders come to recognize that interdependence in itself demands the abandonment of the political blocks; the sacrifice of all forms of economic, military, or political imperialism; and the transformation of mutual distrust into collaboration. vii Pax Romana believes that this form of partnership between our movements and the United Nations is an important way to help build this solidarity. i The status of being a recognized International Catholic Organization is granted to international Catholic lay organizations and movements by the Secretariat of State of the Holy See by virtue of their global reality and relationship with international organizations. ICOs are also members of the Conference of ICOs. ii Second Vatican Council. Gaudium et Spes, 1965, 90 iii Pax Romana is made up of two autonomous ICOs, the International Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs (ICMICA) and the International Movement of Catholic Students. iv Information on the dates of NGO accreditation to the UN taken from the 2003 UN ECOSOC list of accredited NGOs. These figures are an approximation as Catholic NGOs may have had their status removed and others such as Caritas have changed their status. v Figures taken from the UN Website as of March, vi For example in 2000 and 2001, Pax Romana organized continental workshops in Asia Pacific, Africa, and Europe to develop perspectives and documents on Racism from those regions. Those perspectives then helped Pax Romana advocate at the WCAR Preparatory Committees in Geneva and at the WCAR itself in Durban. At the WCAR, Pax Romana also organized a number of side events including a Mass for the Catholics attending the WCAR and workshops. Similar programs were organized in the process for the WSSD. vii Pope John Paul II. Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 1989, #39.