Attending the Eight Session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime – Vienna October 17 – 21, 2016

 

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Today is day 4 of the 8th Session of the Conference of Parties  (COP8) to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) at the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime in Vienna.  It has been a busy four days with Plenary meeting coupled with parallel meeting of Working Groups, and Side Events.

NGO’s form the  Alliance of NGO’s on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice This group was meeting on Monday morning October 17 to begin to work on a statement to be made in the plenary session under item 2 (b) Trafficking in Persons Protocol.  Read the statement While we were happy to be a contributor to this statement Angela Reed, Sisters of Mercy had the opportunity to make another statement.  cop8_gs_som_oct_2016

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We had the pleasure of meeting Olga Zhyvytsya who was representing Caritas Internationalis, PCMI and several other organizations who also presented a statement.  Good Shepherd had been invited to sign on to this  statement through Good Shepherd International Foundation in Rome.  However due to limited time constraints our signature did not reach in time.

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(Angela and Olga after the statements were delivered)

We had the opportunity to meet with the US Ambassador Luis E. Arreaga, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, US National Statement on Transnational Organized Crime  and Ambassador Susan Coppedge, from the US State Department, Trafficking in Person Office.

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US-UN Mission Vienna ‏@usunvie Oct 18.@JTIP_State Amb. Coppedge and @StateINL PDAS Arreaga discuss #traffickinginpersons with NGO’s today at sidelines of #UNTOC #endslavery  (Twitter US-UN Mission Vienna)

Today the NGO’s had a meeting with the newly elected president of COP 8 Her Excellency Pilar Saborío de Rocafort,  exploring paths of cooperation on #HumanTrafficking.

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There were many side events – co-sponsored by NGO colleagues whose members we know in New York – Soroptimist International and Zonta.  We met colleagues too from the European Women’s Lobby, ECPAT (Austria), Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas (FAWCO) International Federation of Business and Professional Women.  One event entitled ‘The many aspects of trafficking – Health aspects, trafficking of human organs and trafficking in human beings for the purpose of organ removal, sex exploitation’ was co sponsored by Zonta and Soroptimist International was moderated by His Excellency Per Anders Sunesson of Sweden.

 

 

Day of the Girl 2016 at UNICEF

UNICEF sponsored an event on October 11th and I am happy to be able to share with you.  Livestream   After the opening addresses by Mr Anthony Lake, Executive Director of UNICEF and Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director and Under Secretary General of UNFPA there are two amazing girl ambassadors from Africa

satta-3– Satta Sheriff from Liberia (in the picture with me) and Rebeca Gyumi from Tanzania.  Do listen to them!   Satta is a member of the Children’s Parliament in Liberia while Rebeca lobbied her Government to introduce legislation to raise the minimum age of marriage in Tanzania to 18 years in July of this year.  Suman Shakya spoke about a new way of collecting data in Nepal and Karen Peterson from the USA was promoting STEM subjects for girls.

 

Watch and sing along with the Global Girls Film

‘Girls Speak Out’ at the United Nations 2016

Webcast of the ‘Girls Speak Out’   Enjoy the two hour programme.

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An exciting moment to have international visitors attending the ‘Girls Speak Out’ Tanya Corrie, Development Lead - Financial Security, Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand

Sr Monique Tarabeh, Soeurs du Bon Pasteur, Communications Rome, Province of Lebanon/Syria.

Barbara O’Carroll, GSIJP Team, Mission Partner, New York (bottom picture) Cecilie Kern (middle picture) and Winifred Doherty (green jacket)

I was proud to be featuring girls from Angola, Indonesia and Malaysia on social media and the prayer was prepared by  Sister Taskila Nicholas, Province of Central East India/Nepal.  Thank you Taskila.  Truly,  we are a network empowering girls changing the world!

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Day of the Girl Reflections from St. John Eudes School, Angola

Read a little about the background of the School and hear from three girls

esterEster  has written some verse on what it means to be a girls.  My favorite line:                                                                            ‘A girl is like a book waiting to be read.’ ester

 

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Olga Marie is a budding artist.  Click on olga-maria  to see her art

 

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and Josefina shared here thoughts too!   josefina

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Happy International Day of the Girl!

Prayer Service for the International Day of the Girl October 11, 2016

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Building a New Humanity through Universal Values
Prayer Service for the International Day of the Girl Child
prepared by Sister Taskila Nicholas, Province of Central East India/Nepal    English   Spanish  French
Join in solidarity with girls in India and Nepal.  Think of the girls who are refugees and migrants.  Remember girls who are trafficked and prostituted.
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https-cdn-evbuc-com-images-23846713-125948501937-1-original October 11, 2016 at the United Nations in New York  3.00 -5.00 p.m.

  Global Day of Action  Good Shepherd are Partners

Global Day of Action #GlobalDayofAction9am-5pm Twitter Chat Schedule ET
9-10am – UN Women @UN_Women #GirlsTakeover #IDG2016
10-11am – #BuildOn Build On @buildOn
11am-12pm – #TeamGirl @wagggs_world
12:30-2pm – Girl Scouts of the USA @girlscouts
3-5pm – Working Group on Girls #GirlsSpkOut @NGOWGG

Global Day of Action Partners:
UN Women @UN_Women
Plan International @PlanGlobal
PROGRESS @PROGRESSCMU
Girl Scouts @girlscouts
Girls Coalition @GirlsSWPA
Build On @buildOn
Working Group on Girls @NGOWGG
Loretto Community @LorettoattheUN
Dominican Leadership Academy @dlcngoun
Salvation Army @SalvationArmyUS
School Sisters of Notre Dame @School_sisters
Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd @GSIJP @winifreddoherty
Anglican Council of Churches @ACOffice

Day of the Girl Reflections from St. John Eudes School, Angola

Read a little background about the school here  and hear from three girls below.

 

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olga  Olga Marie is a budding artist.  Click on olga-maria  to see her art

Ester has written some verse on what it means to be a girls.  My favorite line ‘A girl is like a book waiting to be read.’ ester

ester  josefina-2

Josefina shared here thoughts too.   josefina

See UNWomen Click here on International Day of the Girl – on top of the page you can find Spanish or French

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Thank you Angola for sharing with us – Thanks Maria Antonica, Olga Marie, Ester and Jsoefia.

 

October 11 is the International Day of the Girl #IDG2016 #GlobalDayofAction

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From Good Shepherd Indonesia

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Kreatif & menarik… Gak nyangka ternyata baju dari koran bekas… Karenn…..
Creative & interesting… today… dress designing using newspaperindonesia-4

indonesia-8Karena mama dan bapaklah sahabat terbaik anak-anak ….#IDG2016

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Bagi Dunia jadilah legenda#IDG 2016

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Core Group planning IDG Indonesia

Thank You Theresa Nia for sharing and facilitating International Day of the Girl Activities.