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Events
The World Urban Forum –an open-door,
idea-generating event focused on an international
problem --deserves appreciation as concept
and fact. But this, the third World
Urban Forum, deserves celebration. Its
events roster - inclusive as it is
of a wide array of perspectives - is a tribute
to the United Nations response to the dynamics
of a changing world.
We the nation states
The UN Charter’s is written in the
name of “We the Peoples;” that
is, we the nation-states, not we, the
small “p” peoples of villages
and cities. The only acknowledgement of
other sectors is found in Article 71 of the
UN Charter which provides for consultation
with non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
But, as it happened, expert non-governmental
advocacy seriously influenced decision-making
by the nation states from the beginning and
people’s participation has slowly grown.
We the NGOs
In 1968, CONGO, representing NGOs who were
refused participation in the Commission on
Human Rights meeting in Teheran, organized “a
parallel NGO forum in Paris, which was attended
by UN officials, government representatives,
and NGOs. Since then, CONGO has been instrumental
in organizing NGO parallel fora at key UN
conferences.” Read more
And since then, NGOs have expanded their
influence. “41 NGOs were granted consultative
status by the council in 1946”. By
1992 the number was 700. Today, 13
years later, the number has increased almost
four fold. 2, 719 organizations have
ECOSOC status, the Huairou Commission being
among them..
But, as the organizers of the World Urban
Forum seem to understand , numbers count,
but they aren’t everything. It’s
also a matter of who the NGOs represent.
We the Voiceless
In 1995, when the Huairou Commission
was founded at the “parallel for a” of
the 3rd World Conference on Women at Beijing,
grassroots women and their voices were located
30 kilometers from the Conference site (in
the town of Huairou). When they wrote
up proposals to the Conference, they had
to have them carried by other women’s
organizations. Grassroots women did
not speak for themselves. Read
more
Thanks to the steadfast work of grassroots
women leaders from around the world and the
vision of some leaders in the UN and UN-HABITAT,
the Huairou Commission is now honored to
be the official women’s group at World
Urban Forum3.
We the People
Huairou celebrates the welcome it
has enjoyed from WUF3 sponsors. It
is proud of the many events that are sponsored
by women and that address women’s issues
This appreciation is not only in the name
of its own constituency and those of other
previously marginalized groups who have been
brought into the event, but, more than anything,
for the promise that WUF3 makes to all those
who dream of some form of local/global governance
that will engage the participation of those
inside nation states.
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| LAST
UPDATE MAY 12, 2006 |
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