Tag Archives: United Nations

July 24, 2013 · 8:31 am

Make cyber space a safe space for women and girls

from the UNiTE Web page with additional material

orange_day_fb_profile_image_medium300Last July the UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign proclaimed every 25th of the month as Orange Day. Initiated and led by the UNiTE campaign Global Youth Network, worldwide activities implemented on this day by UN country offices and civil society organizations strive to highlight issues relevant to preventing and ending violence against women and girls, not only once a year, on 25 November (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women), but every month.

Under the heading ‘Safe spaces for women and girls’, this year the UNiTE campaign is focusing its Orange Day activities on highlighting recommendations of the agreed conclusions of the 57th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW57) which took place in March this year. In April, UNiTE focused on ‘Safe Work Place for Women and Girls’, in May it highlighted ‘Safe Homes for Women and Girls’ while in June, UNiTE’s Orange Day coincided with the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (June 26th) and the campaign focused on ‘State Custody and State Care as Safe Spaces for Women and Girls’’. This month, the campaign highlights ‘Cyber Space as Safe Space for Women and Girls’ and it is also the first birthday of Orange day.

ORANGE DAY ACTIVITIES (25th July)

This Orange Day, the UNiTE campaign will highlight both the need to end violenceagainst women and girls which take place in cyber space, and the positive role that information and communications technologies and programs can play in preventing and ending violence against women and girls.

What can you do?

  • Say no to violence against women and girls in cyber space.
  • Turn cyber space orange for Orange day.
  • Change your Facebook profile picture to the UNiTE campaign’s July 25 ribbon image.
    Post pictures of yourself wearing orange.
  • Use & share the photo of the UNiTE Ribbon.
  • On Thursday July 25, the UNiTE campaign will host a Twitter discussion, along with other partners, around how information and communication technologies can be used to prevent and end violence against women. Join us. Share information about initiatives you know about. Invite others to do the same. Learn about innovative projects. Follow @SayNO_UNiTE and #orangeday on Twitter.

SAMPLE SOCIAL MEDIA MESSAGES

Twitter

  • Happy #OrangeDay!This month #UNiTE focuses on safe cyber space 4women&girls.Check out initiatives using tech2 #endVAW http://owl.li/mlJkgToday is #OrangeDay! Wear orange and #UNiTE to end #violenceagainstwomen and girls in cyber space. http://o wl.li/mlJkg
  • Say NO to #VAW & girls in cyberspace.This #orangeday,turn cyber space orange 2show ur support for #UNiTE campaign! http://owl.li/mlJkg
  • After #CSW57, #UNiTE campaign says harness technology as a tool to #endVAW and make cyber space safe for women&girls! http://owl.li/mlJkg

Sample Facebook messages

  1. Today is #OrangeDay and the UNiTE campaign is calling for cyber space to be safe and violence-free for women and girls. At CSW57 on ending violence against women and girls, governments committed to: “Support the development and use of information and communication technologies and social media as a resource for the empowerment of women and girls, including access to information on the prevention of and response to violence against women and girls; and develop mechanisms to combat the use of information and communication technologies and social media to perpetrate violence against women and girls, including the criminal misuse of information and communication technologies for sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, child pornography and trafficking in women and girls, and emerging forms of violence, such as cyberstalking, cyberbullying and privacy violations that compromise women’s and girls’ safety” Pg. 12 (WW).
  2. The UNiTE campaign has declared the 25th of each month #OrangeDay and today calls for cyber space to be a safe space for women and girls. Show your support by wearing orange and turning cyber space orange! Post pictures of yourself wearing orange, turn your profile picture orange and find out more about what you can do.http://owl.li/mlJkg
  3. Today is #OrangeDay, a day to take action to end violence against women and girls. The UNiTE campaign is focusing on making cyber space safe for women and girls. Join UNiTE’s Twitter discussion on using information and communication technologies to prevent and end violence against women and girls! http://owl.li/mlJkg
  4. Today – 25 July– is one year since the UNiTE campaign declared the 25th of each month as #OrangeDay. Since then, people all over the world have come together to take part in activities to prevent and end violence against women. See the photos.

Resources

See you along the Trail.

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March 26, 2013 · 5:14 pm

Lent 42: Light

Light

New York, New York
13 March 2013

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August 19, 2012 · 11:48 pm

Making the most of our time: Roberto Clemente

I had not planned to make this post. It is an excerpt from a sermon I preached today. However, thanks to a friend, I learned that yesterday would have been Roberto Clemente’s 78th birthday and posting seemed important. The text is Ephesians 5:15-20.

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) met in Pittsburgh this summer. For some of those who attending, this marked the first time they had journeyed to the city built around three rivers. For me, it marked something of a homecoming. As I child, my family lived for about eight years on Neville Island about five or six miles from where the Ohio River begins in Pittsburgh.

Much has changed over the years since my family lived there. But when I walked into the Westin Hotel, I knew that I had returned home. There on the wall hung a picture of Roberto Clemente—the hero of my childhood who has remained my hero through the years.

Clemente hailed from Puerto Rico and played right field for the Pittsburgh Pirates for 18 years. One of the first Hispanic players, he played in the face of prejudice—he faced jeers and slurs. People who had only one language mocked him for speaking English—his second language—poorly. Because of the prejudice against Hispanic players and because he played in the small market town of Pittsburgh, Clemente never received the acclaim as a player that he deserved until late in his career.

And he deserved acclaim because he could play. He won twelve Golden Gloves for his defense. He had one of the strongest throwing arms that has ever been seen. He ended his career with 3,000 hits.

The people of Puerto Rico and Pittsburgh admired Clemente for his athletic ability but even more we admired him and we admire him for the way he lived his life off the field. In the words of Ephesians, he “made the most of his time.”

Clemente engaged in humanitarian work in Puerto Rico and in Pittsburgh alike. He demanded respect for himself and the people of Puerto Rico and other Latin American countries. He worked for people who lived in poverty and responded to the needs of his sisters and brothers. He reached out to children and provided them with opportunities to develop their own athletic talents. In 1973, Clemente was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and the first Presidential Citizens Medal. In 2002, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Baseball has named its annual award for community involvement after Clemente.

A massive earthquake hit Managua, Nicaragua on December 21, 1972. The quake devastated the city, with thousands either dead or left homeless. Clemente organized relief efforts in Puerto Rico. When he learned that some of the aid had ended up in the pockets of the leaders and had not reached the people of Nicaragua, Clemente decided to deliver the next shipment personally. On New Year’s Eve, he stepped into a DC-7 plane along with the supplies and headed for Nicaragua. Not long after takeoff the plane suddenly lost altitude and crashed somewhere into the waters off Puerto Rico. Clemente’s body was never found.

I tell his story this morning, because the United Nations has designated today, August 19, as World Humanitarian Day. The day marks the anniversary of the 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. That bombing killed 22 people present to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Iraq. The UN chose the day to pay tribute to Sergio Vieira de Mello and the other individuals who died in Iraq and others who gave their lives while seeking to serve sisters and brothers in need.

It is also a day to give thanks for those individuals and groups who continue to help people around the world, regardless of who they are and where they are. It is a day when we remember that we all can make a difference when we show that we care and do something for someone else. In the language of the church, this is a day to invite, to challenge us all to make the most of our time by loving others as God in Jesus Christ loves us. Of course that is not just a task for a day—it is a calling for a lifetime.

On this World Humanitarian Day, I give thanks for the life and witness of Roberto Clemente. I advocated for an end to violence against women and for the strong regulations on minerals that fuel conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other places. And I made a financial gift to efforts to address leukemia. Tomorrow I will need to find other actions.

See you along the Trail.

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July 25, 2012 · 4:15 pm

End violence against women, says Orange Day

I originally posted a version of this on my work blog.

Today was the first Orange Day.

The UNiTE campaign has proclaimed every 25th of the month as Orange Day, to raise awareness about the issue of violence against women and girls, not only once a year on 25 November (the International Day to End Violence against Women), but every month!

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign aims to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls in all parts of the world.

UNiTE brings together a host of UN agencies and offices to galvanize action across the UN system to prevent and punish violence against women.

Through UNiTE, the UN is joining forces with individuals, civil society and governments to put an end to violence against women in all its forms.

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July 17, 2012 · 10:18 pm

Go with God, my dear friend

I knew the day would come. I had checked on it again and again. I did not want to miss the opportunity to say what I wanted to say. But I learned tonight, that I almost did that.

I met Kevin Dance several years ago when I attended a seminar at the Presbyterian United Nations Office (its name at the time). Kevin serves as the representative at the UN for Passionists International. A group from National Capital Presbytery came for a seminar on addressing racism around the world. Kevin spoke to the group because of his work with indigenous peoples. I liked him instantly.

When I arrived in New York in October 2010 to serve with the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations (its current name), Kevin, along with many others, greeted me warmly. We worked together on a several issues including indigenous persons and a just peace for Palestinians and Israelis.

A gentle, caring man, Kevin mixed a brilliant sense of humor with a profound passion for justice. He played a key role in bringing indigenous voices into the conversation at the UN. When that happened, he continued to work to ensure that the powerful heard our indigenous sisters and brothers.

Earlier this year, the faith-based NGO community learned that the time had come for Kevin to return to his home. We made a special effort to learn about his work with indigenous peoples. We did not want to lose his memories and insights We set a time to hear from him when he gladly provided “not a lecture but more of a meander. An insightful, helpful, challenging meander.

Through the first part of the year, I made a point of asking every time I saw him, when he would leave. I did not want to miss the opportunity to tell him what his friendship and witness means to me.

Of course things got busy in my life and in Kevin’s life. For the last month or so I have neither seen him nor checked his schedule.

Tonight, as I prepare to travel in the morning to a meeting that will keep me away for the rest of the week, I learned that Kevin leaves town on Monday. That last cuppa will not happen. But, with fumbling fingers, I did send him an email thanking him for his friendship and collegiality.

I am grateful I could do that much. Two other thoughts provide comfort as I bid Kevin farewell.

My friend Emily McGinley recently wrote a blog post “Love is Sticky” in which she reflects on the Korean concept of term jeong. Emily notes that:

Jeong is rooted in relationality and it has this disturbing quality of dissolving those barriers between oneself and another. … Jeong is “sticky” because it reminds us that: “we are, whether we want to admit it or not, always connected to one another.”

In theological terms, we are “people of one body, bound together by ultimate love.” Remembering that, I know that even as we go our separate ways, Kevin and I remind bound together.

Secondly, Kevin lives in Australia. I figure since I did not get a chance to say the good-bye I wanted to say in New York, I have to go to Australia to do so. Pretty good deal.

Kevin – thank you for your faith, your witness, and your friendship. Go with God, my dear friend.

See you along the Trail.

 

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July 11, 2012 · 6:20 pm

Happy birthday, Nelson Mandela!

This year brings Nelson Mandela‘s 94th birthday: 18 July 2012

To celebrate this day, the UN and the Nelson Mandela Foundation invites us to give 67 minutes to help others as a way to celebrate Nelson Mandela International Day.

For 67 years Nelson Mandela devoted his life to the service of humanity — as a human rights lawyer, a prisoner of conscience, an international peacemaker and the first democratically elected president of a free South Africa.

Find 67 ideas for marking Nelson Mandela International Day. You can add your own.

Register your activity for the day.

Learn about activities and events that are already planned.

Like Nelson Mandela International Day on Facebook.

In November 2009, the UN General Assembly declared 18 July of each year as “Nelson Mandela International Day.” The day recognizes the former South African President’s contribution to the culture of peace and freedom.

Giving thanks for Nelson Mandela’s life and witness, may we follow his example on 18 July – and may we make every day a Mandela day when we serve one another.

See you along the Trail.

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June 26, 2012 · 10:43 am

June 26 Tweet-in to stop torture

Today is the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

Join @No_More_Torture, @PresbyUN, and others  in an effort to #StopTorture- by tweeting your members of Congress & the White House against torture, Guantanamo and Indefinite Detention under the NDAA. Also, feel free to tweet on any subject related to the injustice of torture and in support of victims of torture.

Here are some of the hash tags being used:

#June26
#NoTorture
#StopTorture
#torture
#Guantanamo
#NDAA

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture offers some sample tweets:

Torture is a MORAL issue because {say why} #June26

Torture destroys the human dignity and respect entitled to every individual. #StopTorture #June26

Torture violates the inherent, God-given dignity and worth of every person. #NoTorture #June26

Torture desecrates humanity and God who “created humankind in God’s own image.”

Close #Guantanamo, a symbol of torture. #June 26

Find policy statements and other resources on stopping torture from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

With thanks to Carol Wickersham – my mentor on addressing the issue of torture.

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March 15, 2012 · 10:24 pm

Study war no more

It is found in the United Nations building, part of the display about the UN’s work on militarism.

Each time I see it,  the picture touches a chord of hope in my heart. My soul sings.

We can lay our weapons down – by the riverside – in the desert – on the street corners – wherever we may be – we can lay our weapons down. And study war no more. And begin the hard work of building a just peace.

Yesterday I toured the UN. And the picture carried even deeper meaning than usual. The International Criminal Court had announced its first verdict ever. In that decision, the court found Thomas Lubanga Dyilo guilty of conscripting, enlisting, and actively using children under the age of 15 in hostilities in the Ituri district of the Democratic Republic of the Congo during 2002 and 2003.

The court’s decision  underscored the picture’s meaning. The picture underscored the court’s decision.

Art and the judicial process intertwining to proclaim hope.

See you along the Trail.

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March 15, 2012 · 9:56 pm

I say a prayer

I toured the United Nations yesterday. They have a display of quilts.

This one comes from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Part of a larger quilt, it commemorates the Srebrenica massacre when between 7,000 and 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed.

Each square remembers one of the men or boys killed.

I noticed how many times last names repeat. Notice the top row – where all the names are the same; or the bottom row – four names the same.  Even in the middle rows, the names repeat.

Fathers and sons? Brothers? Cousins? My heart aches as I wonder and say a prayer for all victims. I say a prayer for the women and all who grieve. I say a prayer that the human race may find the grace to put an end to such atrocities.

And after a moment, a moment that hangs like an eternity, I say a prayer for those who commit atrocities.

See you along the Trail.

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March 11, 2012 · 1:40 pm

UNICEF Tap Project

Can you buy a round – of water?

You can if you make a gift to the UNICEF Tap Project.

Too many children in too many places do not have access to clean water.  Lots of folks, including some funded by UNICEF, work very hard to change that – and things are getting better.

March 22 brings World Water Day – what better time to raise a glass and share a glass?

Check out this Tap Project video for more details.

See you along the Trail.

 

 

 

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