The CONGO
e-update is produced by staff in New York, Geneva and Vienna,
with contributions from members and affiliated partners.
In this
issue:
CSDF 2008 & ECOSOC
UNCTAD
Human
Rights Council
Internet
Governance
CONGO Committees
Campaign and Initiatives
NGO
Resources
and much
more…
Outcome of the Civil
Society Development Forum 2008 (New York Component), 27-29 June 2008, New York
Download the Outcome Document
of the Civil Society Development Forum 2008 (New York Component), which
summarized the positions expressed by its participants, in relation to the main
theme of the ECOSOC High-level Segment: “Implementing the internationally
agreed development goals and commitments in regard to sustainable
development”.
Liberato
Bautista, President of CONGO, addressed
the General debate session of the ECOSOC High-level Segment on 1 July 2008,
presenting the Outcome Document of the Forum’s New York component and its
contribution to the Ministerial Declaration.
More information is
available on the CONGO website 
.
Additional statements, including those facilitated by CONGO, will be published on the CONGO website as soon as available.
Substantive Session of ECOSOC, 30 June –
24 July 2008, New York
The ECOSOC draft Ministerial Declaration
contains most of the elements of the Forum’s draft contribution. ECOSOC
will continue its proceedings until 24 July 2008. More information is available
on the ECOSOC
website.
10 - 14
July: Operational Activities Segment
15 - 17
July: Humanitarian Affairs Segment
18 - 24
July: General Segment
2nd Civil Society Preparatory Meeting
to the 55th Session of the UNCTAD TDB, 18 July 2008,
Geneva
CONGO
and NGLS are convening a second civil society preparatory meeting for the
upcoming 55th session of the UNCTAD Trade and Development Board
(15-26 September 2008) and its civil society hearing. This preparatory meeting
will take place on 18 July, 10.30-11.30 hours, at the CONGO Offices meeting
room. The agenda and more information are available on the CONGO website.
Universal Periodic Review
– New deadlines for NGO written submissions
The deadlines for NGO
submissions on countries to be examined by the 3rd HRC Working Group on UPR,
taking place in December 2008, are as follows: for Botswana, Bahamas, Burundi, Luxembourg, Barbados, Montenegro and
the United Arab Emirates, the deadline is Monday, 14 July 2008. For Israel, Liechtenstein, Serbia, Turkmenistan, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Colombia, Uzbekistan and Tuvalu, the deadline is Monday, 21 July 2008.
The deadlines for NGO
submissions for the 4th
HRC Working Group on UPR are 1
September 2008 for Cameroon, Djibouti, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal, Bangladesh, China and Jordan, and 8 September 2008 for Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Mexico, Canada,
Germany, Russian Federation and
Azerbaijan.
NGO contributions should be sent to UPRsubmissions@ohchr.org. See the technical guidelines for
stakeholders’ submissions. More information is available on the OHCHR website and on the CONGO resources on the UPR.
6th Annual WFUNA Human Rights Seminar, 13-16
July2008, Geneva
The theme of the 6th
Annual WFUNA Human Rights Seminar is “60 years towards the Universality
of Human Rights: The Human Rights Council and the Universal Periodic
Review”. The 2008 Seminar will review the activities of the first two
years of the Human Rights Council and consider the progress in implementing the
Universal Periodic Review, with a particular focus on the participation of
civil society at all levels. The programme (also
available in French)
and registration form
are available on the WFUNA website.
Inaugural session of the Human Rights Council
Advisory Committee, 4-15 August 2008, Geneva
The HRC Advisory
Committee, which replaces the former Sub-Commission on the Promotion and
Protection of Human Rights, will provide expertise and advice, and conduct
substantive research and studies on thematic issues of interest to the Council.
During this inaugural session, the Advisory Committee will develop on its own
institution-building and establish its working methods, as well as address
issues as requested by the Council. Requests for accreditation should be send
to the HRC AC Secretariat (Attn: Françoise Kenfack, Fax: +41 22 917 90 11).
More information is available on the Advisory Committee webpage.
African Regional Preparatory Meeting to the Durban Review Conference, 24-26 August 2008, Abuja, Nigeria
Nigeria
will host the Regional Preparatory Conference for Africa to the Durban Review
Conference. Lump sum grants are made available by the OHCHR for the participation
of NGOs in this Conference. More information on the lump sum grants and on the
working documentation for the Conference is available on the OHCHR website.
Internet Governance EuroDIG
- European Dialogue on Internet Governance, 20-21 October, Strasbourg
As a preparatory
regional consultation towards the 3rd meeting of the Internet governance Forum
(3-6 December 2008, Hyderabad, India), European stakeholders are convening a
European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG) to enable
European governments, civil society, private sector and other stakeholders to contribute
to Internet Governance policy development and bring their experiences to the
global IGF-debate. The EuroDIG 2008 will take place at the Council of Europe on
20 and 21 October 2008. More information is available on the EuroDIG website.
CONGO Committees: NGO Working
Group on Human Rights Education and Learning – 6 August, Geneva
The Geneva NGO Working Group on Human Rights Education and
Learning will hold it next meeting on Wednesday 6 August, 13:00-15:00 at the
NGO Resource Centre.
Campaigns and Initiatives
Campaign
towards October 17th, International Day for the Eradication of
Poverty
www.oct17.org
Decent Work Decent
Life Campaign
www.decentwork.org
Global Campaign
against Poverty
www.whiteband.org
Interactive global online
conversation on the "Universality of Human Rights”, by WFUNA
http://www.realtimedelphi.net
Campaign, global coalition, Call to action: 19
November- World Day for prevention of child abuse
http://www.woman.ch/children/1-introduction.php
Campaign, global coalition, Call to action: 15 October – International
Day of rural women
http://www.woman.ch/women/2-introduction.php
NGO
Resources
UN-NGO-IRENE Best
Practices Network
http://www.un.org/esa/coordination/ngo/irene
NGLS 2007 Yearly Review of Civil Society
http://www.un-ngls.org/site/article.php3?id_article=462
Other
events
17-23 August 2008: World Water Week, Stockholm, Sweden
http://www.worldwaterweek.org
1-3
September: 2008 Social Forum of the Human Rights Council
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/poverty/sforum.htm
3-5
September: 61st DPI/NGO Conference
Deadline
for registration is 1 August 2008: Registration for NGOs associated with DPI
Registration for NGOs NOT
associated with DPI
25
September 2008: High-level Event on the Millennium Development Goals, New York
http://www.un-ngls.org/site/article.php3?id_article=520
08-17
October 2008: 4th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, Vienna
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/CTOC/CTOC-COP-session4.html
29
November – 2 December 2008: International Conference to Review the
Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus, Doha, Qatar
http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/
15-16
December 2008: UN Forum on Minority Issues, Geneva
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/minority/forum.htm
