SI at the United Nations

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Soroptimist International at the United Nations

SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL AT THE UNITED NATIONS

Our valuable advocacy for human rights and gender equality enables Soroptimist International to participate at all seven United Nations centres around the world. Our 24 Soroptimist representatives to the 15 specialised United Nations agencies ensure that the voices of women and girls are heard.

Together with other non-government organisations and various UN agencies, we work to bring about changes to make the world a better place now and for future generations.

Soroptimist International have a series of position papers "Where we Stand", these papers explain the organisations' stance on various issues that affect the lives of women and girls.

As the United Nations headquarters, and home to the General Assembly, all areas of the UN's work is 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 SI UN Representatives in New York cover gender equality, ageing and older persons, the girl child, trafficking, migration, education, sustainable development, financing for development, peace and security. This team of UN Representatives also cover UN processes and functional commissions such as the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the Commission on Social Development (CSocD), and the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), all of which promote SI's presence and enhance the impact of our advocacy efforts.

Vienna is home to The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ). United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), and the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC).

SI's Representatives to Vienna focus on a range of issues critical to eliminating violence against women and girls, including human trafficking, ageing (elder abuse), harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM), women in the workplace, and women in the economy.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), are based in Rome. These three UN Agencies work to defeat hunger and ensure that people have access to healthy lives. This leads to a very focused programme of work, and as such, SI's UN Representative for this centre focuses on women's roles in transforming rural economies and food systems by making them more inclusive, productive, resilient and sustainable.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), is based in Paris, meaning that the SI UN Representatives there primarily focus on education. However, because UNESCO and the NGO Committee there organise periodic fora on various issues, SI UN Representatives often adapt their workload in order to engage with the subjects of those fora such as water for all, and women and poverty.

The United Nations Office in Geneva is the second largest UN Centre, after New York. It is a focal point for multilateral diplomacy, human rights, labour, peace and security. The UN's Human Rights Council and its human rights review mechanisms are based in Geneva, including the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), the Commission of the Rights of the Child (CRC), and the UN's Refugee Agency, alongside the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

For SI's Representatives in Geneva, these human rights mechanisms offer a critical opportunity to provide 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 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 United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), and UNESCO are also in Nairobi and our UN reps attend meetings aligned to Soroptimist International's work.

Established in 1947 with its headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) is the regional development arm of the United Nations for the Asia-Pacific region. With 53 Member States and 9 Associate Members, the region is home to 4.1 billion people, two-thirds of the world's population.

ESCAP focuses on some of the region's greatest challenges including: Macroeconomic Policy, Financing for Development, Energy, Transport, Environment and Development and Social Development.

By becoming a member, you can contribute to our efforts in influencing policies, advancing human rights, and achieving gender equality.

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