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GIN ED invited to participate in Kofi Annan panel at the UN in New York

Our ED, Toni Kruger-Ayebazibwe, was invited to participate in a panel on Intergenerational Gender dialogue: Realizing equality now, leaving no one behind as part of the Kofi Annan Faith Briefings which are convened by the Multi Faith Advisory Council, UN Interagency Task Force on Religion alongside the High Level Political Forum in New York. They capitalise on the fact that many faith-based actors engage with the UN system at this time particularly.

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The themes of the Kofi Annan Briefings are connected to the main themes of the HLPF. AS the HLPF in 2019 focused a main theme of “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”, the theme/title of the Kofi Annan Briefings on July 15 was “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality: The Role of UN and Multi Faith Collaboration”.

The panel included speakers from T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, the Baha’i International Community, the Church of Sweden, and the Anglican Communion Office at the United Nations.  It was engaging and interesting and she was able to represent the voices of LGBTI people of faith and to bring to the fore the importance of openness to different ways of understanding, particularly around gender and sexuality. We had a vibrant discussion about intergenerational dialogue and the need to really listen to, especially, the youth, and to prioritise the perspectives of people when they are speaking about their own lives.

In addition she spoke at a UN Women side event on Gender Beyond the Binaries (from 1:13: 48 onwards):

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The purpose of the Kofi Annan Faith Briefings is (from the agenda):

  1. “To provide a dedicated and ‘regular’ space, during a key intergovernmental moment (in this case the High Level Political Forum/HLPF) capitalizing on the unique constellation of geopolitical and socio-cultural human capital, well-versed in religion and religiously related affairs, which is capable of informing, and being informed by, UN system deliberations.
  2. To uphold the importance of strategic partnerships by the UN system with faith-based and faith-inspired civil society actors, around the world for specific SDGs;
  3. To present and assess the diverse range of partnerships between different faith entities and between them and the UN and its member states, as a means to realising the SDG goals;
  4. To thereby showcase the multi-faith civic support for multilateralism which is dedicated to the service of human rights, sustainable development and peace and security. ”

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