WFUWO and UWC to participate in United Nations conference (08/01/04)

WFUWO and UWC to participate in United Nations conference

NEW YORK - The NGO Represen-tation of World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations and the NGO Representation of the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) are pleased to inform that they will participate in the 57th Annual United Nations Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organization Conference to be held at U.N. headquarters in New York, September 8-10.

Secretary General Kofi A. Annan will address an expected 2,000 NGO delegates at the opening session in the General Assembly Hall. Titled "Millennium Development Goals: Civil Society Takes Action," the conference will focus on the roles of NGOs, civil society and governments in the implementation of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were adopted by 189 U.N. member-states at their high-level millennium session in 2000.

Centered around the most critical problems causing tensions in the world today, the MDGs are designed to give people worldwide the tools to care for themselves in healthy, sustainable environments. Specific MDG targets are set to: alleviate poverty; treat and prevent the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic; provide universal primary education and gender equality; reduce child and maternal mortality rates; lower by half the number of people who suffer from hunger and lack access to safe drinking water; empower women; and create a global partnership to foster good governance and economic development in the least developed countries, including opening world markets to their goods.

The World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations, established in 1948, is an international NGO in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations since 1993. It is accredited by the United Nations Department of Public Information and UNICEF. Its membership consists of 23 women's organizations located on four continents in 14 countries. WFUWO is a member of the Ukrainian World Congress. It maintains close ties with women's organizations in Ukraine.

The goal of the WFUWO representation to the United Nations is to support humanitarian goals of the United Nations and its human rights agenda, and to cultivate knowledge of Ukrainian heritage, history and culture. For the last two years Nadia Shmigel, NGO representative to the United Nations from the World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations, has participated as a member of the Planning Committee of the 56th and the 57th Annual DPI/NGO Conferences.

The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC), established in 1967, is a global organization representing Ukrainian communities outside Ukraine with affiliates in some 30 countries, including Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Kazakstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, the Russian Federation, Serbia and Montenegro, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States and Uzbekistan, as well as associates in Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and Portugal. In 2003 the UWC was registered as an NGO in consultative status with ECOSOC.

The WFUWO and the UWC follow closely the activities of relevant United Nations bodies, regional and global governmental institutions and NGOs on issues of concern. The WFUWO and the UWC delegations to the 57th Annual United Nations Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organization Conference will inform the member-organizations of the UWC and the WFUWO, and through them the Ukrainian Diaspora, about the work of the Conference.

Conference delegates will attend five plenary sessions with governmental, U.N. agency, NGO, civil society and local community leaders to assess the progress each sector has made on the goals. Emphasis will be placed on reviewing successful programs to be replicated, possible strategies for raising resources required for the implementation of the MDGs, and heightening public awareness of the goals.

After networking at interactive Midday Workshops, delegates will consider drafting a recommended plan of action for use by their NGOs and other civil society members to help meet the Millennium Development Goals by the target date of 2015.

Registration for the conference is open only to representatives of NGOs associated with DPI, those in consultative status with the United Nations through the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and those working with U.N. agencies, programs and U.N. Information Centers and Services.

Additional information on the conference program will be posted on http://www.un.org/dpi/ngosection. Inquiries may be addressed to the NGO section of DPI and DPI/NGO Resource Center, Room L-1B-31, United Nations, New York, NY 10017.

The United Nations Department of Public Information, in partnership with the NGO/DPI Executive Committee, organizes the conference on a yearly basis.

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