BWA in Action

BWA Helps

DROUGHT STRICKEN ETHIOPIA

T

BWA Appoints New Officer to UN continued Since 1974, the BWA has had Special Consultative Status at

the UN through the Economic and Social Council. BWA is also a member of the UN Committee of Nongovern-

mental Organizations, and enjoys consultative relationship with the Conference of NGOs (CoNGO), an international membership association. The global organization has access to 41 nongovernmental

organization (NGO) committees in New York, Geneva, and Vienna. The BWA is also accredited as an NGO through the UN’s Department of Public Information (DPI), which enables it

to

participate in briefings and receive announcements from DPI; is a member of the Committee of Religious NGOs; and collaborates

14 BAPTIST WORLD MAGAZINE

he Baptist World Alliance sent a sum of US$15,000 in relief support to several neighborhoods in Ethiopia, which is facing one

of the worst droughts in decades, triggered by El Niño and following successive poor rainy seasons. According to the United States Agency for Inter- national Development,

an estimated 10.2 million

people are in need of relief food assistance and nearly six million people need water and sanitation services—

with the Ecumenical Working Group that provides a forum for common work on issues of concern to UN representatives of Christian World Communions. BWA UN involvement includes Universal Periodic Reviews

(UPR) of the Human Rights Council and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), presenting alternative human rights reports on particular UN Member States. At Rio+20, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development

in Brazil in 2012, BWA co-sponsored side events and submitted documents contributing to the focus of the discussions there. The BWA has actively participated in the annual meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women by hosting side events.