The LBV presents its recommendations at the High-Level Segment of the ECOSOC, in Geneva
During the debates held on July 3, the Legion of Good Will (LBV) was invited to open the intervention of the civil society to the international authorities present at the UN plenary.
The statement with the Organization’s fraternal recommendations was translated into the six official languages of the United Nations (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish) and broadcast on UN TV and Radio in real time for the whole world. This intervention will remain recorded in the channels of the Conference and also by United Nations TV.
GENEVA/SWITZERLAND – United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, was greeted by Adriana Parmegiani, from the LBV, and received the GOOD WILL magazine (in English). Attentive, he thanked her for the copy of the publication, leafed through it, and pointed out that he admires and already knows the work of the Organization.
In addition to authorities and representatives from Member States, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in consultative status with the Council will also attend the meeting. For the UN, the specialized competence and hands-on experience of each one of them are of great value to the decisions to be taken by the organism. Having consultative status, an NGO can provide expert analysis on issues directly from its experience in the field; help monitor and implement international agreements; help raise public awareness of relevant issues; etc. Besides this, they can attend international conferences and events; make written and oral statements; and have opportunities to network and lobby with official government delegations and other international NGOs.
GENEVA/SWITZERLAND – President of ECOSOC, Néstor Osorio (L), received from Danilo Parmegiani, from the LBV, the recommendations of the Organization for the event and kindly recalled his participation giving the opening remarks in the Forum on Technology and Education, which the LBV co-organized, at the UN Headquarters in New York, in May.
The Legion of Good Will (LBV) — a Brazilian NGO in general consultative status with ECOSOC since 1999 — participates every year in this important event. The Organization submits its recommendations to the event based on its experience of more than 60 years in carrying out social and educational actions directed at low-income families, in addition to singularly presenting proposals that are guided by Brotherhood and ecumenical Altruism for the construction of societies that are fairer and more solidary. Its contributions were taken to the meeting by means of the Organization’s publication, the GOOD WILL magazine, published in four languages (English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish).
| Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova (L), receives LBV’s special publication in French from the hands of Ana Paula de Oliveira, representative of the Organization at the event. |
Following are excerpts from the statement submitted by the Legion of Good Will to the UN and officially translated by the United Nations into its six official languages. Read in the document the LBV’s contribution to the theme Science, Technology, and Innovation:
"The LBV believes that the global society can truly benefit from the solidarity-based use of current technologies, in particular socio-environmental technologies which should yield greater investment by government and society. The organization also emphasizes the need to engage in a more in-depth discussion on scientific practice and its values. This will help avoid research conducted through a purely economic and exclusionary lens that would only aggravate inequalities.
For this to happen, Paiva Netto warns: 'In addition to the power of Reason, the long-intended structural change must, therefore, rely on the best Feelings of Creatures. If not, it will continue expressing the fanciful will in which, on so many occasions, it was almost transformed into. Therefore, it is urgent to ally mind and heart. By all means gaze at the heights, but your feet should remain firmly on the ground.'"
*Source: “Working with ECOSOC — an NGOs Guide to Consultative Status” (United Nations, 2012).