United Nations Associations worldwide have pledged their support for UNA-UK's 1 for 7 Billion campaign, following intensive campaigning by UNA-UK at a recent conference.
UNA-UK's Head of Outreach, Richard Nelmes, and Communications & Campaigns Assistant, Isabelle Younane. were one of 37 delegations to attend the 41st Plenary Assembly of the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA), which took place in Vancouver, Canada, from 18 - 22 November. WFUNA is the umbrella organisation for over 100 national UNAs and their thousands of constituents.
UNA-UK took this opportunity to rally support among UN Associations for the 1 for 7 Billion campaign. Isabelle Younane (top) presented a resolution to the Plenary, urging UNAs to lobby their national governments to stand up for a fairer process at the United Nations. The resolution was passed by consensus.Click here to read Isabelle's speech and click here to read the resolution.
Alongside the conference, UNA-UK revived our Freshers' fair activities and encouraged UNA delegates to 'vote' for who they think should succeed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2016. Photos were posted on social media throughout the Plenary Assembly and streamed in the background during Isabelle's presentation of the resolution. Among the participants were UNA-USA, UNA Mexico (right) and the Secretary-General of WFUNA, Bonian Golmohammadi.
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During the Plenary Assembly, UNA-UK gave workshops and presentations to UNA delegates to provide information about 1 for 7 Billion and to share campaigning ideas. Richard Nelmes presented to the Plenary Assembly, while Isabelle unveiled the Campaigner's toolkit to the WFUNA Global Youth Forum, which ran in parallel to the main conference.
At the closing ceremony, Richard Nelmes presented a commemorative edition of the UN Charter to the Executive Director of UNA Canada, Kathryn White, who hosted the conference (left).
Our new supporters
UNA-UK welcomes the support of the following UNAs for the 1 for 7 Billion campaign:
Australia*, Austria, Benin*, Canada*, Denmark*, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Finland*, Iceland*, Mexico, Philippines*, South Africa, Sweden*, Switzerland*
*Co-sponsored the resolution
About 1 for 7 Billion
Co-founded by UNA-UK, 1 for 7 Billion calls for reform of the opaque, outdated process that characterises the selection of the UN Secretary-General. Campaigning by UNA-UK, our partners and our thousands of supporters worldwide has resulted in a UN General Assembly resolution in September, which adopted five reforms tabled by our campaign. However, a critical mass of support is needed to ensure that this resolution is implemented, and that states push for further reforms.
Click here to get involved with 1 for 7 Billion
[View the story "1 for 7 Billion @ WFUNA " on Storify]
