Rotary Partners with UN to Eradicate Polio
From April to June 1945, delegations from fifty nations attended the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco (often known as the San Francisco Conference). Their task was to write a charter acceptable to all of them. The delegations were assisted in this historic effort by a large number of staff, advisers, and consultants.
Rotary International was one of 42 organizations the United States invited to serve as consultants to its delegation at the San Francisco Conference. Each organization had seats for three representatives, so Rotary International's 11 representatives served in rotation. The people officially representing Rotary included the general secretary, the editor of The Rotarian, and several past presidents. Other Rotarians from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America served as members of their own nations' delegations. Rotarians also served as consultants to their national delegations.
Article 71 of the UN states, "The Economic and Social Council may make suitable arrangements for consultation with non-governmental organizations which are concerned with matters within its competence."
It is often said that Rotary and Red Cross have seats in the UN. I haven't found anything to confirm that. What I did find was that Rotary holds the highest consultative status offered to a nongovernmental organization by the UN's Economic and Social Council which oversees many specialized UN agencies. The Rotary Representative Network maintains and furthers its relationship with several UN bodies, programs, commissions, and agencies. This network consists of Rotary International representatives to the United Nations and other organizations.
Most of what one hears about the UN in the media is what happens in the Security Council and the General Assembly. This represents about twenty percent of the work of UN. Rotary's involvement is with social, economic and humanitarian issues which now comprise eighty percent of the work of the UN and which are also at the heart of Rotary.
When Rotary started its worldwide PolioPlus program in the 1988, Rotary immediately realized that working in partnership with UNICEF, the World Health Organization and UNESCO. This partnership has lasted over 30 years and was recently renewed for another 5 years. Today Rotary has 30 representatives around the world. They are located in NY, DC, Santiago Chile, Paris, Geneva, Strasbourg, Vienna, Rome, Bangkok, Lebanon, Ethiopia, and Nairobi.
Primarily because of Rotary's work with polio, Rotary remains one of the most respected non-governmental organizations in the UN System.
A day is set aside each year for Rotarians to tour UN headquarters in New York City. This unique opportunity offers both a visit to the United Nations Headquarters in New York City as well as participation in panel discussions featuring leaders and officials from the Rotary International, the United Nations and its affiliated Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).
Rotary Day at the United Nations also includes a special program for youth interested in humanitarian service. Youth have the opportunity to hear about some projects that Interact Clubs are working on, gain an overview of the UN and much more.
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