Blog of Marcella Sigmund, SI UN Representative in Vienna.

Upon being invited to the Conference of NGOs (CoNGO), numerous Excellencies, colleagues and friends gathered to celebrate the 75^th Anniversary of this acknowledged organisation.

The United Nations has historically focused on Peace and Security (including freedom from fear, prohibition of war for the first time in human history), Development and Prosperity (including freedom from want, as well as the eradication of poverty), alongside Human Rights and Human Dignity as the ‘ foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.’ Although the Human Rights Commission developed slowly, this commemoration celebrates the roughly 6000 human rights institutions which have moved the commission out of the “no power to take action doctrine”, toward binding human rights treaties brought to ECOSOC and the General Assembly. This celebration represents seventy-five years of work and dedication achieved by thousands of CoNGO members.

Multilateralism and its concepts require us to consider a range of important questions as organisations who fight for human rights. This includes asking what we need to do and what we need to see. Why do NGOs and Civil Society truly matter? Do we have an impact and what is it? As noted by CoNGO President Literato Bautista, during the years after the establishment of the Human Rights Commission, the members strove to protect and advance human rights. Human Rights were the most difficult of the three pillars as the understanding of “rights” varied from state to state.

The driving force of human rights, according to Secretary General Manfred Nowak, were not the States and Governments, but the NGOs; a major human rights driver was and remains the Commission on the Status of Women. Mrs. Helga Konrad, a Women’s Affairs expert and former Austrian Federal Minister of Women’s Affairs, focused on gender justice and the importance of multilateralism. She noted “that there is no other political, social or cultural issue of comparable magnitude, that is as fundamentally questioned as the discrimination of women.” Noting that fundamental principle of multilateralism and international cooperation, Dr Konrad reiterates the basic goals of inclusivity and diversity which help “build trust, foster collaboration and promote more sustainable and equitable outcomes.” Interconnected issues such as gender, race, poverty, and environment are significant as new challenges to human rights loom ahead.

The multilateral aspects of Human Rights were presented by her colleagues Nikhil Seth and Manfred Nowak. Mr Seth offered answers to the query Why do NGOs and Civil Society Matter?  Civil society cannot thrive without mutual respect. In the years after the Cold War civil society, business and the media engaged in multilateralism. There was hope that poverty, discrimination, and inequality would become history. The world’s faith in multilateralism was growing, but toward the end of the 2010s a downward swing jarred many states and leaders into a state of inertia. Mr. Seth notes that cooperation fell. That loss of cooperation increased human rights problems and the special focus on women and girls is considered a human rights crisis.

Mr Manfred Nowak noted that “neoliberalist economic policies” increased especially after the 9/11 terrorist attacks reflected a backlash against human rights. The hard-earned improvements in human rights deteriorated despite a multitude of treaty monitory bodies in which NGOs play a vital role. As civil society and NGOs work on protecting the rights of future generations of human beings, non-human beings and the rights of nature. Manfred Nowak calls on political leaders to understand that all States, organisations, civil society and the corporate sector must works together rather than fighting each other.

Further CoNGO Speakers during the program included the host H.E. Ghada Fathi Waly, H.E. Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, Secretary General, Foreign Ministry of Austria, and CoNGO President Liberato C Bautista and his co-chairs for this commemoration, Gillian Sorensen and Patrick Rea. We Soroptimists know many of these UN members well and work tirelessly to support each other.  In Vienna the four Soroptimist International Representatives volunteer actively at various levels: Martina Gredler is active as Second Vice President in coordinating CoNGO, while Marion Prechtl, Christine Peer and Marcella Sigmund are engaged committee members.