THE UU-UNO AND HOW IT
SUPPORTS THE UNITED NATIONS
— by Lois Chazen

Unitarian involvement at the UN began in 1946, when the American Unitarian Association selected Elvira Fradkin as representative to the UN. The Envoy System was initiated in 1962 and that year, the office was at the Community Church of New York. The Church Center office across the street from the United Nations opened in 1963. The Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office (UU-UNO) was incorporated in 1970. In 1996, the UUA was granted NGO consultative status with the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The UUA’s voice at the UN, the UU-UNO, is supported by member UU congregations and individuals nationwide and in Canada. Today, the UU-UNO is busily engaged in a multitude of activities in support of the UN.

The leadership of the UU-UNO benefits from the talents of several All Souls members. The Rev. Fran Mercer, an affiliated minister of All Souls, recently stepped down after serving five years as Executive Director. Fellow All Souls member Peggy Montgomery, President of the UU-UNO Board, enthused, “Fran is inspiring to work with and very determined.” On Peggy’s wish list for the UU-UNO’s future: “increased UU-UNO visibility and membership among UUs and increased funding to insure solvency.”

The United Nations’ blueprint for the future is encapsulated in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) presented in 2000 by Secretary-General Kofi Annan. One finds the goals, with a target date of 2015, posted on corridor walls throughout the UN World Headquarters. Progress in achieving these goals is monitored and assessed by special advisors to the Secretary-General, led by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, who was also involved in the planning. The Millennium Development Goals are: 1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, 2) Achieve universal primary education, 3) Promote gender equality and empower women, 4) Reduce child mortality, 5) Improve maternal health, 6) Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, 7) Ensure environmental sustainability, and 8) Develop a global partnership for development. The 5,000 NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) recognized by the UN are doing their best to assist. There is also consensus that massive reforms in the structure and function of the Security Council, the General Assembly, and the Secretariat are needed to better suit today’s world, one very different from the post World War II era sixty years ago when the UN Charter was written.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “The United Nations still represents man’s best hope to substitute the conference table for the battlefield.”

Kofi Annan has often expressed appreciation for the work done by NGOs and has called for more participation. Under-Secretary-General Louise Frechette said, “The time is right to take this partnership (with NGOs) one step further,” and she recommends a People’s Parliament, an advisory body “to provide a moral voice and recommendations on important UN decisions,” and to truly represent “all peoples.”

Chair of the All Souls UU-UNO Envoy Group, Nancy Seng plans quarterly programs on UN issues. A recent lecture was presented in cooperation with the Peace Task Force and Adult Education. Professor Kim Martin, a Political Scientist teaching at Columbia University, discussed her recent book, Enforcing the Peace. The Envoy Group is preparing a PowerPoint presentation and video to help market the UU-UNO’s key program this year, “Every Child is Our Child.” Eileen Higgins and K.K. Libby are the creative producers, and Honey Shields is assisting in raising grant funds for this project, which directly supports the UN Millennium Development Goals. Also working on this project are Patrica Arnold, Jennifer Vaughn Maanavi and Deborah Taylor. Last Spring, Alex Collier co-chaired the annual UU-UNO seminar. Newton Bowles is a member of the UU-UNO Council of Advisors, and George Dorsey was at one time Treasurer of the UU-UNO Board.

Last March, Professor Richard Ford, a noted scholar of African history and development, traveled to Ghana with several colleagues including Fran Mercer to start up the Every Child is Our Child initiative. The program currently provides primary school education and nurturing homes for 40 HIV/AIDS orphans. There are 204,000 AIDS orphans in Ghana alone. This program will serve as a template for other African communities. Because the scale of such projects is so vast, the UU-UNO often works in partnership with UN agencies including UNICEF, ECOSOC, WHO (World Health Organization) and various NGOs.

The UU-UNO is also working within the United States, currently in partnership with the Southwest Indian Relief Council’s Cradle Club. Supplies for Native American newborns are collected and given to new mothers if they attend 75 per cent of their pre-natal visits and two classes on parenting.

The UU-UNO’s goal of educating UUs about the work of the UN is promoted by its Annual Intergenerational Spring Seminar, which welcomes more than 120 youth and adults from the US and Canada. Last year the topic was HIV/ AIDS, and this year the seminar is devoted to combating extreme poverty. Called “People, Poverty and Power,” it will be held April 6 to 8, 2006. More than 65 teens and their advisors will be hosted by All Souls.

The educational goal is also emphasized in many congregations on UN Sunday in October. A wide array of materials is available at the UU-UNO, including an Order of Service, readings, sample sermons, appropriate hymns, and films, if needed. Many UU envoys and congregations prefer to create all or part of their own programs.

A third way UUs can learn about the UN directly is to attend activities at the UN itself. Recently, I attended the regular Thursday UN/DPI (UN Department of Public Information) NGO briefing in the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium. Although the building is somewhat worn and dated-looking after nearly sixty years of intensive use, it is an awe-inspiring experience to stand where great world leaders such as Henry Cabot Lodge, Abba Eban, Gromyko, Churchill and Charles De Gaulle once stood and where Nikita Khrushchev banged his shoe on the conference table.

Instead of the usual briefing that day, there was a presentation of proposals for the 59th Annual UN/DPI NGO conference. The proposals ranged from fewer plenary sessions and more “how to” workshops, to how to increase NGO visibility and bring in more younger people. Another suggestion was reform of the Commission on Human Rights, whose members include such violators as Cuba, Saudi Arabia, and China.

Further educational information on crises such as the genocide in Darfur is available on the UU-UNO website: uu-uno.org, a marvelous source for news on many current world issues and how to take action on them. The website design is most attractive, with many exceptional color photos. It is the work of a young designer and three interns. UU individuals and congregations intending to become UU-UNO members need only click on the website to find out how to do it.

In accordance with its mission to educate and communicate, the UU-UNO publishes a quarterly newsletter, “Window on the World.” The Executive Director is assisted by a cadre of volunteers and three or four interns each semester. The interns attend and report on NGO meetings, briefings and conferences, write opinions on issues, and absorb all the information and ideas circulating in the UN airwaves. An intern application form is available on the UU-UNO website.

The new Executive Director of the UU-UNO, Jim Nelson, joined the staff in July. At a six-day conference of the ICUU (International Council of Unitarians and Universalists) in Montserrat, Spain, attended by UU representatives from twenty countries, he had the opportunity to exchange ideas with colleagues and to explore possible collaborations and partnerships worldwide.

The philosophy of the United Nations and the spiritual values of Unitarian Universalists are virtually parallel. Both entities seek to promote peace, eliminate war, discrimination, poverty and disease and to encourage universal social, civic and economic justice and to preserve the environment. Our sixth Principle, “The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all,” echoes the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The UU-UNO logo combines the UN’s laurel wreath, a peace-dove-shaped Unitarian-Universalist chalice and the double flame of Human Rights.