UNA-SF BOARD Resolution on the UN75 Global Consultations in San Francisco

WHEREAS, the United Nations Association of the USA, San Francisco Chapter responded to the call of the Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres and the Executive Director of the United Nations Association of the United States of America Rachel Bowen Pittman to participate in the largest-ever global conversation on building the future we want; and

WHEREAS, the United Nations Association of the USA, San Francisco Chapter reached out to over 20,000 San Franciscans through email blasts, social media advertising, and targeted outreach, selected 160 qualified delegates, and hosted eight UN75 Global Consultations in San Francisco with 135 highly engaged delegates representing government and civil society (including several civil society organizations that served as official consultants with the US Delegation to the United Nations Conference on International Organization in 1945); Indigenous peoples; business, the technology sector, and communities of wealth; homeless communities and frontline workers; healthcare communities; youth; young professionals; and other voices of people who live, work, or study in San Francisco or have been displaced from the city in recent years; and

WHEREAS, the United Nations Association of the USA, San Francisco Chapter used an innovative combination of the World Café process and the Collective Narrative Methodology which proved to be a very effective method to engage delegates in generative conversations and collectively document a balanced overview of key ideas and recommendations that were shared or emerged in each consultation; and

WHEREAS, the UN Global Consultations Committee of the United Nations Association of the USA, San Francisco Chapter analyzed collective narratives from the UN75 Global Consultations in San Francisco, submitted key recommendations to the United Nations and Members of Congress through the National Office of the United Nations Association of the United States of America, and published all the collective narratives along with highlighted results of the data analysis in the report titled “Voices of San Francisco—the Birthplace of the United Nations”; and

WHEREAS, delegates of the UN75 Global Consultations in San Francisco recognized the interconnectedness of all the issues facing humanity along with the need to create a collaborative and multilateral world, address siloed government structures, increased hostility and polarization, structural racism, existential threats like Climate Change, and disparities with regard to access to education, healthcare, technology, housing, food, clean water, and other resources to avoid heading further towards a world defined by unilateralism and xenophobia; and

WHEREAS, delegates appealed to our local, state, and national governments—among other actors—to do their part in addressing pressing systemic challenges; and

WHEREAS, the collective narratives from the UN75 Global Consultations in San Francisco present the United Nations as a trusted global actor that should play a stronger role by instituting enforceable regulations and holding governments, corporations, and other stakeholders accountable for their impact on our future, act as a facilitator of global conversations and transmitter of information related to critical global issues, administer help and move resources globally; and

WHEREAS, emphasizing the critical role of including people with lived experiences in decisions that affect them, our delegates called for the United Nations to build more effective partnerships for Sustainable Development Goals and make the United Nations System more democratic, transparent, and accountable;

BE IT RESOLVED that the United Nations Association of the USA, San Francisco Chapter recognizes and appreciates delegates of the UN75 Global Consultations in San Francisco for contributing with their perspectives, our partners—the University of San Francisco, Urban Angels SF, and Innovation 4.4—for supporting the outreach efforts, and members of the UN Global Consultations Committee for organizing, facilitating, documenting, analyzing, and reporting on these consultations; and

BE IT RESOLVED that the United Nations Association of the USA, San Francisco Chapter urges the Office of the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Commemoration of the United Nations 75th Anniversary Fabrizio Hochschild-Drummond, the Office of the President of the General Assembly Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, the United Nations Department of Global Communications, and other United Nations offices responsible for ensuring that diverse voices are heard at the historic negotiations that member-states are conducting as they prepare for the 75th Session of the General Assembly to read the collective narratives from the UN75 Global Consultations in San Francisco; and

BE IT RESOLVED that the United Nations Association of the USA, San Francisco Chapter urges Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, and other political leaders who represent the people of San Francisco to read the collective narratives from the UN75 Global Consultations in San Francisco; and
BE IT RESOLVED that the United Nations Association of the USA, San Francisco Chapter commits to hearing and amplifying marginalized voices, such as voices calling for racial justice, gender equality, and Indigenous rights; and

BE IT RESOLVED that as an immediate effect of this commitment we are supporting the call of our least represented group—Indigenous peoples—for the United Nations to honor the Treaties and other Arrangements that were made between Indigenous peoples and nation states, to elevate the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to a Convention on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, to increase participation of indigenous peoples in the General Assembly and let Indigenous peoples have a more prominent presence in the United Nations System; and

BE IT RESOLVED that the United Nations Association of the USA, San Francisco Chapter urges the United Nations to continue its efforts to find more effective ways to engage diverse voices—especially those of marginalized groups, young people, and grassroots organizations—and make these voices matter in high-level decision making; and

BE IT RESOLVED that the United Nations Association of the USA, San Francisco Chapter urges the United States to pay our dues to the United Nations on time and in full; and

BE IT RESOLVED that the United Nations Association of the USA, San Francisco Chapter urges the people of San Francisco and all peoples of the world to support the vital work of the United Nations and do their part of building a brighter future for all.

Unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of the United Nations Association of the USA, San Francisco Chapter and signed by the President, Mary Steiner, on June 21, 2020

Mary Steiner
President, United Nations Association of the USA, San Francisco Chapter