WUNRN
PRESS
RELEASE
NGO/CSW/NY ELECTS NEW EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Leadership poised to ensure
an open, democratic forum for women’s voices at the UN
June 17, 2011 – New York, NY – The NGO Committee on the Status of Women, NY (NGO/CSW/NY), one of three women’s committees of CoNGO that advocates for women’s rights and gender equality, today announced the appointment of new Executive Committee members.
At the helm of the NGO/CSW/NY is new Chair, Soon-Young Yoon (former Vice-Chair). Ms. Yoon is the UN representative for the International Alliance of Women and works as a consultant for the World Health Organization. She was one of the organizers of the NGO Forum during the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Ms. Yoon currently serves as a board member of the International Advisory Council at the Harvard AIDS Initiative and of the International Foundation for Ewha Womans University. She holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Michigan.
“All issues are women’s issues,” said Ms. Yoon. “We are the committee that makes it possible for the international women’s movement to meet at the UN every year, renewing its inspiration and energy. I look forward to helping this organization weave the world’s women together.”
Joining Ms. Yoon are Susan O’Malley (Vice
Chair), International Federation of Business and Professional Women; Mary
Ann Tarantula, Zonta International (Recording Secretary); Madeleine Brecher,
International Council of Jewish Women (Communications Secretary); and Lois
Beilin, Soroptimist International (Treasurer). Dr. Jafar Jawad of the Al-Hakim
Foundation and Dr. Padmini Murthy of the International Women’s Medical
Association are Members At Large. Dr. Vivian Pender, International
Psychoanalytical Association, will stay on as the
Immediate Past Chair, Ex-officio.
About the Committee on the Status of
Women, NY
The NGO Committee on the Status of Women, NY (NGO/CSW/NY) is one of three women’s committees of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the UN (CoNGO). Under CoNGO’s umbrella, the NGO/CSW committees helped plan the NGO Forums at the UN World conferences in Mexico, Copenhagen, Nairobi and Beijing. By playing an active role at the UN, the NGO/CSW/NY advocates for implementation of the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies, Beijing Platform for Action, UN Security Resolution 1325 (among others), the Millennium Development Goals and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The NGO/CSW/NY organizes the NGO Consultation Day in preparation for the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) meetings. It also works in partnership with other CoNGO committees to inform the UN and UN Women on a wide range of issues including violence against women, women’s health, migrant and refugee women, indigenous people’s rights, and the environment. The NGO/CSW/NY represents approximately 80 organizations and is a volunteer-based, non-profit NGO funded largely by individual contributions.