The Presbyterian United Nations Office

777 U.N. Plaza, 7th Floor • New York, NY 10017 • (212) 697-4568

The Presbyterian U.N. Office represents the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) at the United Nations. Staff members help to equip Presbyterians for discipleship by training them to put their faith into action in the global arena. The Presbyterian U.N. Office also bears witness to Jesus Christ by advocating the concerns of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assemblies to the United Nations. The Presbyterian U.N. Office is one way in which the church responds to Christ’s call to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives and to let the oppressed go free.

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World Water Day — March 22

The international observance of World Water Day grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro.

The General Assembly of the United Nations declared 2008 as an International Year of Sanitation recognizing the slow and insufficient progress made in achieving the global sanitation target, and recognized that progress can be made through active commitment and action by all.

The celebration of World Water Day is in keeping with the Millennium Development Goals. Goal 7 sets out by the year 2015 to:

• Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes; reverse loss of environmental resources;
• Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water; and
• Achieve significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.

Learn more

• Water for All, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A)
• Presbyterians for Restoring Creation on Water
• Worship Resources for World Water Day

Commission on the Status of Women

Be part of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) delegation to the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) that will be held February 25 – March 7, 2008, at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

This year’s theme will be: “Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women.”

The CSW will include interactive high-level roundtables and interactive expert panels on the priority theme of financing for gender equality, policy initiatives and capacity-building.

All PC(USA) delegates will also take part in orientation and strategy sessions, delegate dinners and NGO side events with ecumenical partners.

• Learn more
• Apply here

MDG Monitor: helping meet the Millennium Development Goals

The new United Nations Web site, MDG Monitor, will show how and where the world is succeeding or failing in meeting the Millennium Development Goals on ending poverty. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the site would present all the information on the goals in one place. This will allow monitoring of progress that will help identify places in need of greater attention and spur success. The site gathers statistics from around the world to offer a snapshot of how each country is doing in meeting the eight goals, from cutting infant mortality to reducing hunger.

Happening at the United Nations

• 62nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly
• High Level Meeting on Climate Change

Rights of passage: United Nations General Assembly adopts Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on Thursday, September 13. This milestone acknowledges respect for indigenous communities that have been marginalized, discriminated against, and oppressed throughout history and in our present reality. Read more about the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

• Frequently Asked Questions: Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
• U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
• PC(USA) Office of Native American Congregational Enhancement

More Stories from the Presbyterian United Nations Office

• Poverty and hunger: no small potatoes
• New seminar program intern joins PUNO staff
• Religious panel dialogues with Iran’s Ahmadinejad
• Support the Campaign for the Millennium Development Goals
• U.N. Responds to Darfur
• Living the Accra Confession
• A Somber Anniversary
• Addressing Indigenous Issues
• Seeking Gender Justice: Addressing HIV/AIDS
• Building the Beloved Community
• So Everyone Might Have a Home
• Displaced Persons in Colombia
• Religious Delegation Meets with Iranian President Ahmadinejad
• New Presbyterian Representative to the United Nations
• Find Some Facts from the United Nations Association
• Resolve the Crisis: Don't Shut Down the U.N.
• The Geneva Conventions

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Celebrating the Work of the United Nations

The United Nations has worked for the well being of people around the world from its creation in 1945. Its efforts have included:

Building Peace

• Since 1945, the U.N. has negotiated 172 peaceful settlements to regional conflicts (such as the Iran-Iraq war, the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, and civil war in El Salvador).

Improving health

• The World Health Organization (WHO), a U.N. agency, eradicated smallpox from the planet in 1980 after a 13-year effort.
• U.N. agencies have made safe drinking water available to over one billion people in rural areas during the last decade.

Saving children’s lives

• As a result of the work of UNICEF (the U.N. Fund for Children) and WHO, 80 percent of children in developing countries are immunized against the diseases of polio, tetanus, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria and tuberculosis. This represents a significant increase from 1974 when only five percent of children in developing countries were immunized.

Advancing the status of women

• U.N. programs have raised the female literacy rate in developing countries from 36 percent in 1970 to 56 percent in 1990.
• In the 1960s, only 10 percent of the world’s families had access to effective methods of family planning. Now 55 percent have access.

Saving the environment

• The U.N. environment program (UNEP) cleaned up Mediterranean beaches by encouraging Syria, Israel, Turkey and Greece to work together. 50 percent of previously polluted beaches are now usable.

Advancing Human Rights

• Through an arms embargo and other measures, the U.N. played a major role in ending apartheid in South Africa.

PUNO Quick Guides to Quick Information

• The United Nations
• Crises and Humanitarian Responses