SI at the UN

As the United Nations headquarters and home to the General Assembly, all areas of the UN’s work are discussed in New York. The Centre is also the headquarters of UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women created in 2010. The team of six SI Representatives to the UN in New York cover gender equality, sustainable development, financing for development, trafficking, migration, education, ageing and peace and security. The SI Representatives to the UN in New York are Bette Levy (Centre Contact), Sofia Calicchio, Oya Dane, Marline McLean, Maria Fornella-Oehninger, Jacqueline Shapiro and Frances Zainoeddin.

The United Nations Office in Geneva is the second biggest UN Centre, after New York, and is a focal point for multilateral diplomacy, human rights, and peace and security. The UN’s Human Rights Council and its human rights review mechanisms, including the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and the UN’s Refugee Agency are based in Geneva. For SI’s UN Representatives in Geneva, these human rights mechanisms provide a critical opportunity to give recommendations to governments to ensure that actions are taken to promote gender equality and women’s and girls’ access to their human rights and fundamental freedoms. The SI Representatives to the UN in Geneva are Berthe De Vos-Neven (Centre Contact), Donatella Benjamin, Stacy Ciulik, Pascale Muylaert and Olga Tzortzatou Nanopoulou.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) are based in Rome. This leads to a very focused programme of work, and as such SI’s Representative to the UN for this Centre focuses on women’s roles in food production and distribution. The SI Representative to the UN in Rome is Liliana Mosca (Centre Contact).

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), headquartered in Paris, primarily draws the attention of SI UN Representatives there to education-related matters. Nevertheless, because UNESCO and the local NGO Committee regularly host forums on a wide range of topics, the SI Representatives often adjust their focus to participate in discussions on issues such as universal access to water and the intersection of women and poverty. The SI UN Representatives in Paris are Evelyne Para (Centre Contact), Marie-Christine Gries, and Rina Dupriet.

The United Nations Office in Nairobi focuses on environmental issues and covers the work of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). SI’s UN Representatives in Nairobi focus on issues such as rural women, disaster risk reduction and the effects of climate change on women and girls. The SI Representatives to the UN in Nairobi are Victoria Kutto (Centre Contact), Habiba Alambo, Beatrice Olouch and Shaleen Wanjiru Njoki.