Updates from the UN NGO

Called to Action at the United Nations

In our world of overwhelming tragedy and expanding violence, bearing witness to our interconnected problems and recognizing our shared responsibility for change is our most essential and difficult task. During my brief time with the Dominican Leadership Conference at the United Nations, I have had the great privilege to participate in meetings and events which have compelled me to bear witness and recognize my responsibility in creating a more just world. Amidst the lively Summit of the Future, I attended two insightful side events at the Church Centre for the United Nations. 

The first event, titled “Migration for the Future,” emphasized the centrality and intersectionality of migration in our world. All speakers drew attention to the harsh reality of forced displacement, insisting we remember the humanity of those fleeing for their lives. The three panelists individually issued calls to action, including a demand for greater accountability and a call for the inclusion of refugees and migrants in decision-making processes. Moreover, the event made clear the importance of civil society advocacy at the UN. After an initial draft that included no references to the role of migration in the future, the NGO Committee on Migration and other advocacy groups pushed for the document to recognize the benefits of migration, resulting in references to these benefits in the pact. Additional speakers from the International Organization for Migration and the US Mission to the United Nations both suggested that the pact would not have recognized the role of migration without this advocacy. These comments, alongside the pleas issued by the panel, point to the necessity of continuing work at the international level to support migrants and recognize their essential role in our shared future. Most powerfully, the event asserted that we as individuals and organizations make UN statements meaningful by carrying out the commitments they embody in our lives and work.

Hosted on the International Day of Peace, I attended a second event on peacebuilding. Entitled “Towards Transformative Peace,” the event examined the crucial role of religious organizations in resolving conflict and constructing a more just world. The three panelists spoke about solidarity and recognizing our common humanity as the foremost tasks of religious peacebuilding organizations. Given the power of dehumanizing and othering narratives in fueling conflict, panelists argued that religious organizations have a central role to play in challenging the stories and “reservoirs of grievance” that beget violence. Simultaneously, panelists called for religious organizations to work at the root causes of conflict by dismantling systems of oppression. This work must recognize people in conflict-affected areas as stakeholders in peace, not merely recipients of aid. In ensuing small group discussions, we spoke about peacebuilding in our everyday lives as always enshrining the humanity of others. 

While the United Nations moves at the level of states, speakers at each of these events insisted that we all have essential roles to play as individuals. Acknowledging our shared future demands that we recognize our own capacity to enact change and accept this responsibility. My time at the United Nations has served as a call to continued service as I seek to deepen my commitment to the most vulnerable. 

Sophia Feeney is interning this semester for the Dominican Leadership Conference. She is a Junior at the Vincentian College St.John’s. Sophia did her entire high school in Croatian in Croatia. She is fluent in this language and now studying French.She is very enthusiastic and brings her commitment to girls and women to this position. She has been shepherding Dominican Schools this semester to take part in the International Day of the Girl. She did a zoom meeting with those who wanted to know more about the IDG.  She also has spent time in Vietnam and worked with Corporate Responsibility and so she has joined the NGO subcommittee of the Mining Working Group on Corporate Accountability.It is a joy to work with Sophia. in this week’s UN Update she shares a reflection on attending a side event during the Summit of the Future